Visions of a Shattered Past
by sillysongswithlarry
Summary: Her father had the blood of the Divine Dragons. Her mother was a seer. What if Corrin had inherited more from her parents than her scales and a couple of visions? How does the story play out when a kidnapped girl knows from the very beginning what she has been torn from and what secrets linger in her veins?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Fire Emblem, its characters, or anything else that is property of Nintendo or Intelligent Systems. Additionally, any recognizable dialogue is lifted straight from the game, although I have changed a great deal of it for the purposes of the story I am trying to tell.

The M rating is mostly for safety purposes. The story is likely to have blood and gore, and there will probably be mentions of adult themes, but nothing too explicit, I hope.

**Visions of a Shattered Past**

**Chapter One**

Corrin's dreams had been a part of her for longer than she could remember. Not all of them lingered into her waking hours, but enough did that she knew more than certain people would prefer. For instance, she knew Garon was not her father.

Some part of her, she suspected, would have always known, dreams or no dreams. He never acted particularly like a father should. Camilla and Xander would serenade her with tales of their childhoods and what a kind, paternal figure the king _used _to be, and even Leo had a few fond stories he only let surface in the darkest, loneliest of nights in her drafty fortress, when they both had need of the comfort the memories provided. But Corrin had never seen that side of Garon, and she suspected Elise had only ever imagined it, though her dreams informed her that Elise _was _in fact the daughter of Garon.

Corrin counted herself lucky that she did, unlike Elise, have a father who loved her, even if their situation was endlessly complicated and she could only see the evidence of that love in her dreams at night.

Despite the fact that most of her blood relatives only visited her when her head hit the pillow, she found very little about her waking hours lacking. She loved the Nohrian siblings, and although she remained wary of Gunter from the first, he too had a place in her heart.

Her first encounter with the elderly knight was memorable in many ways, and she suspected it would never fade from her memory.

Her dreams had given her no warning. She had been in the fortress for a few months, then, her memory fuzzy, her tumultuous nights filled with chaotic dreams as her gift attempted to fill in the gaps left by her forced amnesia. (That had been a difficult fact to come to terms with: that the reason she recalled so little was due to outside interference. And Xander wondered why such a tiny child was so suspicious.) The influx of information was confusing and overwhelming to the little girl, and oftentimes she simply drifted down corridors, ignoring the fortress staff who tried to coax her into talking or eating as she tried to make sense of her muddled thoughts.

She supposed Garon had become impatient with her unresponsiveness, for that day, she was startled out of her thoughts by a then-middle aged knight, scarred and taciturn, letting himself into her bedchambers.

At her young age, this was simultaneously far more and far less terrifying than such an event would be, were it to happen to her today. At any rate, she scrambled back against her bedroom window to put distance between her and the new threat. As escape routes go, the window was not a terribly bright one, as it was many stories up—too high to leap from without snapping vital bones—and she was not even sure it was made to open. Still, it reassured her. She stared at the intruder, scarlet eyes gaping at the whip held expertly in his hands.

(Later, Gunter would share his thoughts on the incident with her, in that way that old soldiers reminisce. _King Garon was in a foul mood that day. Handed me the whip and ordered me to teach you how to behave. There you were, a lass of—well, couldn't have been more than half a decade. I was reluctant already, climbing those stairs to your chambers, but I was determined to heed my king—right up until the moment that door opened and I saw your innocent red eyes, staring up at me like you expected the worst of humanity. Like one more blow against you would break you permanently. I knew then that I couldn't be the villain, king's orders be damned._)

She should be grateful, she knew, that he didn't whip her then and there, that the old knight simply left, not a word spoken between the two of them. But somehow she could not bring herself to thank someone for something so… decent… as refraining from whipping a traumatized child. Did that make her unfair? He was under orders from his king. He could have been—likely, _was_, though she had not heard of such an incident—severely punished for disobeying. But she could not imagine any decent man letting an innocent child suffer in his place, at his hand, especially a knight. They were supposed to defend the defenseless, protect the citizenry. But that was not a Nohrian ideal. Not under Garon. Not anymore.

Corrin had dreams about her life to come, about her past, but she also had dreams about times long ago and places far away. Her favorite dreams, ones in which faces faded and details were murky but _ideals _shone through, featured another kingdom, one so foreign to Nohr, with a blue-haired prince and a jeweled shield and a blonde woman with a brand on her forehead, who carried herself tall and never lashed out and spoke with the words of a saint. Words spoken on a clifftop, desperate words from the heart, a message through the ages. _War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. _Corrin did not know her name, but she knew she admired that woman; more than Xander, though she loved him; more than her own mother, though she was certainly a person to respect. If there was one thing Corrin clung to, one lesson she learned from her dreams, it was that one selfless act had the power to change the world.

It was only a shame that so far, Corrin had seen few such selfless acts—outside her dreams—from anyone other than her adopted siblings. Even their selfless acts were generally small moments of rebellion against their father, inspired by their familial love. She took notice of every single one, though. Tracked how it affected the world. More and more, in every lighthearted smile, in every strengthened bond, in every ray of hope that clung stubbornly to existence in this dark fortress, she saw undeniable proof that her philosophy was true.

She was not sure how selfless an act Gunter's refusal to punish her was. Even at her young age, she saw the calculated gleam in his eye, the one that said, 'You could be useful to me in the future.' The part of Gunter that hated Garon, that knew loyalty was far more powerful and longer-lasting than fear. But she could not deny that his actions on that day transformed their relationship from what it might have been, one of animosity and resentment, to something approaching friendship, or at least a kinship. They were both prisoners of Garon, forced into a life they would never have chosen simply for the overpowering will of a man who thought himself a god. Neither of them loved their king, not the way that the Nohrian siblings undeniably loved their father, no matter the individual resentments they may have harbored towards him despite it. And that hatred was personal to Corrin and Gunter the way it was not to the rest of the fortress staff, like Flora and Lilith. He had wronged them individually.

Corrin was not proud of the fact that she despised Garon. She wanted to hold true to her dream woman's ideals, forsake violence and hatred. But there was no denying that Garon was the villain of her story. He had murdered her surrogate father, lured him in under false pretenses, kidnapped her from a loving family, separated her and her mother, and kept her isolated her entire life. Sent strangers to punish her when she did not conform to his expectations. He abused his power over her.

She had yet to muster the strength, as a woman oppressed, to forgive her oppressor.

But she hid it well, and she did not take it out on his children or his subjects, and Xander and Camilla were left none the wiser. Leo knew something of it, as he had shared his own misgivings with her and she had felt the freedom to respond in kind, but he knew not the depths of her ire.

But Gunter knew. She suspected he had known from the beginning, sensed the hatred festering in her from the time she was old enough to comprehend what had been done to her. He was drawn to her rage, and it manifested in a kind of gentle encouragement, the way it had that day when he returned to her bedchambers, a leather ball replacing the whip in his possession. He had taken the time to fashion one into the other. He sank to his knees before her—a feat that would have been far more difficult for him now than it was over a decade ago—and carefully rolled it over to her. Suspicious, but overall, rather indifferent to him now that he had diminished the threat inherent in his presence, she plucked the ball off the floor, turning it over in her hands. After a few minutes' contemplation, she chucked it back at him. He caught it deftly, then immediately tossed it back to her, transforming it into a game. At first, she was far from entertained, but as they continued tossing the ball back and forth, somehow Corrin's chaotic thoughts became that much more organized, more bearable. She really had been starved for human contact.

From that day on, she improved. She spoke to the maids when they addressed her, played the occasional game, and generally lightened up. She rebuilt herself. But she never forgot what the fortress had been to her: a prison.

Still, she was patient. Her dreams informed her that she would escape this prison, one day. And as the years went by, she enjoyed her life. She played with Silas as a girl, appreciated every moment with him for she knew the memory of him would be taken from her, at least for a little while. She drew sketches of his face, hid them in her favorite books, so she could reminisce fondly even when she would not know _why _it brought such joy to her. She studied with Leo, talked with him through the lonely nights. Learned magic at his side. She smiled at how he seemed immune to jealousy over her ability. She was decent at magic, she knew, but he never seemed to hold it against her the way he blamed Xander for his talent. He smiled proudly when she understood something, hugged her tightly when she mastered a particularly advanced spell. He never seemed threatened by her, although admittedly her ability never quite approached his own aptitude for spellcasting.

She picked flowers with Elise, made up silly songs together—although Corrin's imagination in that area was somewhat lacking, so she usually stole songs from her dreams and passed them off as her own creations. Elise did not know the difference.

She learned swordplay at Xander's knee, bonding with her mentor and preparing for the day when she would leave the Northern Fortress. As much as she wished to avoid war, she would need to protect herself.

She rarely sought out time with Camilla, but it was not from a lack of interest in her oldest 'sister'. More, Camilla had a tendency to seek her out whenever possible, doting on her as if they were truly blood related.

(Corrin was never sure how much the Nohrian siblings were aware that she was not their sister. She dared not give away her own knowledge by prodding, but surely Xander, at least, could not believe they were related. He was old enough to be highly skeptical of a relative appearing from seeming nowhere, shortly after the death of the Hoshidan king. And with her fluffy aqua hair and red eyes, she did not resemble the Nohrian siblings, nor Garon, in the slightest.)

Most recently, Camilla had whisked Corrin away from her studying with Leo, insisting on a 'girl's day'. Apparently, that translated to Camilla trapping her in the Malig Knight's bedchambers, trying on all sorts of outfits Camilla had procured from some Nohrian market, all in Corrin's size. Corrin was rather baffled by the fact that they all fit, given that she had grown three inches and an entire cup size in the last year alone, and Camilla's last visit had been nearly that long ago. Clearly, Camilla—or her retainer, as Camilla had confessed that her retainer had picked out most of the garments, having something of a magic touch when it came to clothes shopping—had some sort of clairvoyance of her own, focusing on clothing sizes for a growing young woman. While Corrin played the human—mostly human, Corrin thought wryly—dress-up doll, Camilla interrogated her over her preferences. ("_Now, I know there isn't exactly a high selection in this drafty old place, but is there anyone who's caught your eye? Your maidservant, perhaps? Or that butler. He's a bit… proud, but his cheekbones are rather striking. No one's good enough for you, of course, darling, but if you want companionship, I could help you… entice someone."_)

Some of Camilla's advice was rather useful, actually, and certainly no one else was willing to talk to her about that subject, but Corrin made sure to take everything Camilla said with a grain of salt. The purple-haired princess had a way of making a scary topic exponentially scarier.

Corrin had emerged from that bonding session wiser and with a bit more certainty in her own feelings.

One drawback of knowing that the Nohrian siblings were not, in fact, _her_ siblings, was that she was at first an adolescent girl, and then later a woman, with a close relationship with very attractive people who were not blood-kin to her in any fashion but that she had to pretend were. She had never been particularly attracted to Camilla—oddly, given the Malig Knight's sensual demeanor—but she supposed their friendship was far too familial to allow for that. Elise, too, she saw as a little sister, but her first crush had been on Prince Xander, which made sword lessons incredibly awkward when she could not keep herself from blushing each time they drew close. That faded in her early teen years, when she realized how _stubborn _he could be, and how blind to his father's cruelty. He saw her as a child, as well, and that scarcely helped.

Her affection for Leo, however, was more complicated. They connected on an intellectual level, and they shared a dissatisfaction with their current circumstances and the world around them, and Leo was not nearly so willfully blind as his brother when it came to King Garon. Moreover, they were of an age, even if Corrin was a little older, and their relationship was one of equals.

But Corrin was not supposed to know they were not siblings.

More than once, when the two of them were caught up in some exciting research or spell, they would share a thrilled grin, and she would have to catch herself before she leaned in too far. She could never say how Leo would react, whether he would return the kiss, whether he even knew about their lack of relation. So she held herself back. She had too much to lose.

But the years passed, and as the months counted down to her inevitable leaving, she grew more and more excited. This night, on the cusp of her journey, she had another dream.

_She was lost in the pandemonium of battle, drowning in soldiers' screams of pain and bloodlust alike. The fighting encompassed her as she drifted through the melee, untouched by the combat. She was drawn to two figures, one in red and another in purple, each symbolic of royalty in their respective cultures. _

"_Nohrian general!" The man in red called, voice confident and carrying across the battlefield. "You face the high prince of Hoshido, Ryoma! I challenge you to single combat!"_

A little late, _Corrin thought chidingly. _Your soldiers are already gutting one another.

"_I will accept your challenge, 'high prince'," the figure in purple replied with disdain that Corrin thought boded ill in a future monarch. _They should respect one another. "_But I'm no general. I am Crown Prince Xander of Nohr!"_

_With that, he lunged, urging his horse into a gallop as he struck with his sword at Ryoma. The Hoshidan responded in kind, letting out a battle cry as he brandished his katana. _

_Corrin let out a cry of dismay, but she was quickly comforted by a red-haired pegasus knight who swooped down to grin cheekily at her. "Corrin! Don't be worried. All of your siblings are here with you. These Nohrians don't stand a chance!"_

_She smiled fondly at Hinoka, even as she worried for Xander and Ryoma alike. They would destroy each other and not think twice. Not grieve for the lost chance. But Corrin knew what could be, and she longed for it. _

"_I'm not scared for myself, Hinoka. I don't want to lose another person I care about."_

_Hinoka smiled in a way that clearly communicated she would have rested a hand on Corrin's shoulder if she had not been astride a pegasus. "You're so like Mother, Corrin. She hated to see us march to war, as well."_

_It was true. Corrin wondered if it was in her heritage or if it merely existed as a byproduct of having visions, as she and her mother did. _

_An arrow whistled through the air, and Corrin called out a warning to Hinoka, but the pegasus knight was already in motion, dodging with a finesse borne of long practice. _

"_What lucky star were you born under to have that reaction time, Hinoka?" Corrin laughed. _

_Hinoka grinned. "That? That's skill, little sister."_

_Corrin wondered what star she herself must have been born under, to be forced to spend so much time lying to the ones she loved about her relationship to them. But she could hardly explain her parentage, not with the curse in effect, and it brought them comfort to see her as their family. _

_Ryoma's voice carried across the fighting. "I demand to know why you Nohrian dogs are invading Hoshido! Was that cowardly attack on my people your doing as well, princeling?"_

Insults always calm things right down, _Corrin thought critically. _Although Ryoma does have a point. _Still, it wasn't Xander's fault; it was Hans's, and Ryoma should have known that, as she herself had told him. _

_As always, presenting a united front with his father despite his personal misgivings, Xander merely replied, "I have nothing to say to you. Surrender now. If you refuse… you die here."_

_Hinoka scowled fiercely. "As if that Nohrian coward could take Ryoma in a fight! He's the best samurai in Hoshido."_

As was Sumeragi before him_, Corrin thought wryly._ It did not save my surrogate father, in the end. _But she said none of this to Hinoka. It would only hurt her, and it would not further Corrin's goal of peace. _

_Suddenly, Corrin was out of her body, flying across the battlefield, her vision now playing out from a bird's-eye view. She watched from above as Leo and Camilla finished off a few Hoshidan soldiers by a large river, Elise healing the occasional wound from atop her horse. As they fought, the bridge over the water crumbled, as if impacted by a quake from below. _

"_Oh no!" Elise cried. "The bridge collapsed! How can we help our sister now?"_

"_Not to worry," Camilla soothed her. "This royal blood in our veins is still good for _something_!"_

_Leo grimaced, likely thinking, as Corrin was, how irate Garon would be were he to hear his eldest daughter's words. "Have you spotted a dragon vein, Camilla?"_

_Camilla chuckled throatily. "You know me too well, dear little brother."_

_Stretching out a hand, she called upon her ancient birthright, muttering Arcane under her breath. The river dried up at her command, allowing Leo and Elise, with their horses, to cross it, along with their troops. _

_Elise giggled. "Phew! It worked! The river dried up!"_

_Camilla smiled proudly. "I would never let you down, darling. Now!" She called her troops to attention. "Everyone, follow me!" Her wyvern took flight, leading the way to the greater battle. _

_Leo motioned for Elise to stay. "Elise, fall back with the healers. You're not ready for the front lines just yet. Camilla and I will take care of the Hoshidans."_

_Elise pouted, but acquiesced, turning her horse around to join her fellow healers as Leo coaxed his horse to follow Camilla. _

_Abruptly, Corrin was flying again, her vantage point transitioning back into her body where she stood by Hinoka. _

"_They used a dragon vein to dry up the river!" Hinoka noted with a modicum of concern. "I thought only royals held that power."_

_A harsh voice filtered into Corrin's ears, and she noticed that Takumi must have joined them while she was otherwise occupied. "Yeah, which means there must be some real big shots over there." He shrugged, grinning cockily. "Suits me just fine. I've always wanted to use a Nohrian royal for target practice."_

_Corrin couldn't help it; she snapped at him. "They're human, the same as you and me!" She ignored the fact that she was not human, not exactly. "The youngest princess is just 15. Would you put an arrow through her?"_

_Takumi's smile wavered a little uneasily, but he snapped back. "They killed my mother, and you would call them human?"_

"_King _Garon _killed _our _mother," she stressed. "And yes, he's human, even if he's the lowest form of scum. Never forget that men can be monsters, or you run the risk of becoming one, Takumi."_

_Hinoka broke up their glaring contest. "Stay focused, you two. The Nohrians brought their heavy hitters this time, and we can't afford to argue amongst ourselves."_

_From the corner of her vision, Corrin caught sight of Hans. She glared at him, poison in her crimson stare, as he ushered more troops onto the field. For what he had done to Gunter…_

"_Damn it," Hinoka muttered. "Their reinforcements have arrived," she spoke up. "I'll go scout out how many there are. Takumi, Sakura," she called, and Corrin suddenly realized that the youngest Hoshidan princess had joined them, as well. She had such a quiet presence, Corrin had not noticed. "Stay with Corrin!"_

"_Understood," Takumi responded, glaring at Hans much the same as Corrin, though with significantly less personal ire. _

"_Y-Yes," Sakura agreed. "Good idea. Be safe, big sister."_

"_Sure thing!" Hinoka called as she urged her pegasus into action. _

"_Hang in there, Corrin," Takumi warned, oddly polite to her. "The Nohrian royals are no pushovers. We'll have to work together to beat them." He sighed in frustration. "As the eldest, I guess you're in charge. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."_

_Corrin laughed. She supposed Hoshidan customs occasionally worked in her favor when it came to Takumi. "Let's make our way to Ryoma and Xander. I want to see if I can talk some sense into them."_

_Takumi snorted, but he took the lead, shooting down a few Nohrian wyverns. Corrin winced, but she fought through the foot soldiers, protecting Sakura. _Sometimes fighting is necessary to create peace, _she thought nervously. _Even if I wish it weren't.

_She took a blow to the shoulder in her distraction. It didn't hurt, as this was still a dream, but she still bit back a sharp cry. _

"_Are you hurt, big sister?" Sakura exclaimed, coming close to examine the wound. "Here, let me heal your wounds!"_

_They were caught off guard a few times on their way to Ryoma and Xander's duel, but they made it out unscathed, and Hinoka reunited with them shortly. "Corrin, Takumi," she praised. "Good work fighting off those soldiers."_

"_You were amazing, Corrin," Sakura added with a shy smile. Corrin blinked. _Takumi was fighting, too. Why is she complimenting me? Is it the sheer novelty of my presence?

_Takumi was too busy smirking in triumph to be upset by his little sister's dismissal. "_That _went well. Probably because _someone _gave you good advice," he said pointedly. "You're welcome, by the way."_

"_No time to talk!" Hinoka called, despite having started the conversation. "Ryoma may need our help."_

_Idly, Corrin wondered what the point was in Hinoka scouting if she did not intend to share her findings. _

_Still, they made their way to Ryoma without further incident. "Ryoma!" Hinoka called. "Are you alright?"_

"_I'll be fine," Ryoma answered gruffly. "I'm glad to see you're all safe. Enemy reinforcements are headed this way. I want you to get rid of them. Corrin, I'm counting on you to keep Hinoka and the others safe."_

_Corrin started to reply, but Xander interrupted, bringing his horse closer. "Corrin!" His voice was filled with a desperate sort of energy that touched Corrin. "Thank heavens that we found you, and that you're alive and well. Quickly, come join us! Your family has come to take you home where you belong."_

_Ryoma swung his sword angrily. "Quiet, Nohrian filth! Corrin is my sister and a princess of Hoshido!"_

_Xander scoffed. "On the contrary, Corrin is _my _sister and a princess of Nohr."_

_The other Nohrian royals approached their group, Camilla holding her arms open as if to embrace Corrin. "Darling! I was so worried about you. Don't ever wander away from me again."_

_Leo smiled at her, a hint of buried anguish in his eyes. "You must have the devil's own luck, Corrin." He seemed about to say more, but he was interrupted by Elise's ecstatic squeal. _

"_Yaaaay! We got our sister back!"_

_Hinoka snarled. "Nohrian scum! First you kidnap her, now you lie to her? Corrin is _my _sister, not yours!"_

"_You are mistaken," Camilla said sweetly. "Corrin is _my _adorable little sister. You may not have her."_

"_Don't be fooled by their words," Ryoma addressed Corrin, who was stunned into silence. "You belong with your true family in Hoshido!"_

_Xander pleaded with her. "We have loved you and raised you since you were a child. Come home, little princess. We can live as a family once more!"_

"_Come home to Hoshido!" Ryoma commanded._

"_No, Corrin! Nohr is your home!"_

_With their pleas echoing in her ears, and the pain in Leo's eyes haunting her, Corrin awoke. _


	2. Chapter 2

Just a note: In case it was not clear from the first chapter, do be warned, this is very much an AU story. In addition, while this story will mostly follow the Revelation plot line, it will draw liberally from Birthright and Conquest, so expect heavy blending of plot elements from all three.

(For those of you who might have noticed, a problem came about with the first chapter. In the process of updating my other story, I accidentally replaced the first chapter of Visions with the first chapter of GoaFI. I'm working on it, but it doesn't seem to want to update.)

**Visions of a Shattered Past**

**Chapter 2**

"Time to wake up, Lady Corrin," Flora's cold voice filtered through her groggy mind. Corrin suppressed a smile. She related oddly well to Flora and her cold demeanor, the way she kept herself away from everyone except her twin sister, only reluctantly forming attachments. Corrin suspected Flora was halfway in love with Jakob, but held herself back for fear of compromising herself and her mission. Certainly, Corrin could relate to that.

"Hey, wake up, Lady Corrin!" Felicia prodded. "Up and at 'em!"

Yawning, Corrin sat up, curling with ease, trying to form words even as she came to terms with the content of her dreams. She caught sight of the window, opening to a barely-lightened Nohrian sky. "What are you talking about, girls? It's still dark outside."

"That may be," Flora explained without a hint of sympathy. "But the crown prince insists you rise."

"You have practice today, my lady!" Felicia chimed in.

"I have taken the liberty of preparing your armor," Jakob said, his distinguished accent strong as he laid her armor out on its stand. "I just hope it shall hold up. Er...Your brother is a fearsome opponent, is he not?"

Corrin sighed. "He is that. Must I get up now?" She clung to her silken bedsheets. "I fear I'm still not completely awake yet."

"Oh, we can help with that, my lady," Flora said with a mischievous smile. "Felicia, would you please assist me?"

"Sure thing!" Felicia chirped, joining hands with her sister and placing her free hand on Corrin's face as Flora did the same.

Corrin squealed as they used their ice powers on her. "Cold, cold, cold, _cold!"_ She sprang out of the bed, shivering violently. She grinned. "Thanks, girls. That helped."

Flora rolled her eyes. "So strange…"

Felicia giggled. "I'm so glad you appreciate our efforts, my lady."

Jakob studiously looked away, a teasing smirk on his face. "Is that how the Ice Tribe typically deals with lazy slugabeds?"

Felicia giggled. "We can't give away too many of our secrets, right, Flora?"

Her sister crossed her arms, but did not respond. Corrin walked over to the mirror, shucking her nightgown and letting her hair down from the braids she kept it in at night.

None of her retainers batted an eye at her near-nakedness, Felicia simply helping her into some light, casual clothes with good mobility to wear under her armor while Flora prepared her breakfast.

"You'll have to eat quickly," Flora advised. "His Highness seemed most impatient."

Jakob harrumphed. "Quite the understatement. I do believe something momentous is in the works, my lady. Prince Leo is already in residence, of course—" Corrin and her retainers had spent the night playing cards with Leo and his two strange retainers, one of whom kept shooting her salacious looks but never spoke directly to her. "But the rumor is that the rest of your siblings will also be here by noon."

"Really?" Perhaps today was the day, then. She had felt it in her bones, these last few weeks. Her chance was fast approaching.

"Are you excited to see them?" Felicia asked.

Corrin nodded. "Always. I love having company in my exile," she added, fixing her retainers with a fond smile. "You know I appreciate all of you, right?"

Felicia blushed, busying herself with brushing Corrin's long hair and pinning it to her scalp so it would not impede her eyesight. "Of course, my lady. We know."

Flora blessed Corrin with a rare, genuine smile. "Come eat, my lady. You'll need your energy for this bout."

Jakob merely nodded, his eyes betraying his devotion. "We are always happy to serve at your side, Lady Corrin."

She hoped they would stand by her during the trials to come, but her dreams had not seen fit to bless her with the knowledge of those who would walk beside her.

After a short breakfast, Corrin found herself ushered down to the practice yard.

Leo greeted her with a hug, his breath warming her ear. She barely contained her shiver, smiling at him innocently. "Miss me through the long night?" she teased.

He scowled playfully. "Hardly."

She grinned. "Ah, you must be trying to pickpocket back the coin I won from you last night. Sorry, Leo—I have that tucked away in a safe place!"

Leo rolled his eyes, smirking. "Well, perhaps now you may actually have a chance to spend it."

She let her eyes widen in delight. "You can't mean—"

"Leo!" Xander interrupted sternly.

"Sorry, big brother," he apologized, not looking the least bit repentant. "Ignore me, Corrin. This brute would like to whack you with a stick for the next little while."

Xander donned a long-suffering expression. "Gods. Just follow me, Corrin. I must test your skills."

Corrin grinned fiercely, letting her dragon blood flow through her, though not enough to force a transformation. It was not yet time. "Try me," she dared.

One fierce battle later, she and Xander were both winded. Swordplay had never been her area of expertise, but knowing what was at stake, she fought harder today than she ever had.

"You have a fire about you today, little princess," Xander praised, and Leo's appreciative stare burned through her. The way his eyes raked over her body left her feeling exposed. It was exhilarating. "Have the fortress staff let slip the good news?"

Corrin grinned, her fangs flashing. "What news, Xander?" she asked, faking ignorance.

Xander chuckled, clearly not fooled. "Father has been tracking your progress." At the mention of Garon, her grip on her sword tightened, but the ease of long practice let her feign indifference otherwise. "If you can't best me today… he may never permit you to leave this fortress. But if you win…"

Corrin snarled, lunging at him. She caught Leo's intrigued reaction to her wild demeanor, and it stirred something instinctive in her.

She knew Xander was being lenient with her, not fighting with his all, but she did not care. So long as she won this fight, her pride would survive.

And win she did, after another protracted bout. Xander smiled as she held her sword to his throat. "Very good, little princess. You're getting stronger every day."

Corrin smiled genuinely. "Thank you, Xander. I couldn't have done it without your teachings."

"I disagree," Xander said firmly. "I believe you have natural talent. Someday, you could be the greatest warrior in all of Nohr."

Corrin rolled her eyes. "Now you're just teasing me." She was an accomplished fighter, she knew, but her best skills did not lie with her swordplay.

"You know me," Xander chided. "I never joke about serious matters. I mean what I say. You could be the one to bring light to our kingdom so shrouded in darkness."

Gods, she hoped so. "Xander…." To hear that from someone who loved Garon as he did…

"Typical," Leo scoffed, approaching the two of them. "You know that her strength lies in more than simple swordplay, right?" To Corrin, he seemed more offended on her behalf than his own, but Xander did not think so.

"Calm yourself, little brother. You really are competitive to a fault. As I've always said, you're a talented mage with formidable magical abilities."

"Just remember that pointy metal sticks are not the only path to power, brother," he warned, rolling his eyes in response to Corrin's understanding smile.

Corrin laughed lightly, taking Leo's hand in hers.

He squeezed her hand lightly, running his thumb over her gloved palm. Corrin leaned in to whisper in Leo's ear. "Were you distracted getting dressed this morning?" she teased.

Leo blushed, and she gleefully wondered why. "What could you possibly—"

"Your collar, Leo," she giggled. "It's inside out."

Leo's blush deepened, and he glanced down at his collar. "What?" He cursed under his breath, darting backwards as though burnt. "Why did no one tell me?"

Xander chuckled, "Sorry, little brother, but this sort of thing is what makes you so loveable."

Corrin missed her cue as Leo pulled his shirt off to reverse it, struck momentarily speechless at the sight of his bare chest. "A-Absolutely," She stuttered a little too late, wincing at Xander's incredulous expression as he glanced between the two of them.

"Corrin—" Xander began, but Corrin cut him off, relieved for the distraction.

"Camilla! Elise!" she exclaimed, nodding in the sisters' direction as they entered the courtyard. "When did you get here?"

"Are you alright, Corrin?" Camilla inquired as they approached. By this time, Leo had replaced his shirt the right way around and was adamantly pretending it had never been otherwise. "Did you get hurt at all during practice? If you did, let me know right away, so I can take extra-special care of you…"

Corrin rolled her eyes. "I'm perfectly fine, Camilla. As always, thanks for your concern."

Elise pouted. "I was worried about you, too, Corrin!"

Corrin chuckled. "I know, Elise. You wouldn't visit me all the time if you didn't care so much, right?"

Elise giggled cutely. "Do you like it when I visit?"

Corrin smiled at her cheerful nature. "You know I do! I'm not allowed to leave, so visits are all I look forward to!"

Corrin spent a lot of time lying to her 'siblings' by necessity, but she did truly love and appreciate each of them.

"Yaaay! I'm so glad to hear that! I love you so much!" Elise said, throwing herself at Corrin in a hug. "I love you more than anything in the whole, wide world!"

Leo scowled. "Elise, when do you intend to behave like the adult you technically are?"

Camilla chuckled low in her throat. "Well, I for one think her cheer is a good complement to this gloomy kingdom, Leo."

Corrin laughed, hugging Elise tightly. "Well said, Camilla. You all are so dear to me, you know that, yes?"

"Of course, little sister," Camilla said.

"We are grateful to have you, as well," Xander said. "But Corrin, I have some—"

"Let me tell her, Xander!" Camilla interjected, hands flying out as though to physically prevent him from speaking. "We have wonderful news, Corrin! Father asked us to take you back to the capital!"

Corrin let out a startled breath. This was it. "Really? Does that mean—?"

"Yes," Camilla purred. "It means you can finally leave this drafty fortress. You must have been so lonely all this time, separated from the rest of the world… But now you'll be free!"

Freedom… All her life, she had been a prisoner, and she had no illusions that that would end the minute Garon let her out of this place. But maybe… maybe freedom was within her grasp.

They each went their separate ways after that, Elise and Camilla to get settled in, and Xander to deal with some matters with the household staff. Leo and Corrin, by tacit agreement, wandered off together, ending up in his suite, though not his bedchambers. They had never entered each other's bedchambers, even as children. She idly examined the room around her, cataloguing any changes. There were bookshelves lining two of the interior walls, filled with tomes. A desk rested in the corner, equipped with parchment and ink. The walls were stone, as was everything in this keep, but the floors were covered in lush rugs for comfort, and the fireplace kept the room warm, once they set the logs ablaze.

"You did well, in that bout with Xander," Leo broke the silence. "I don't think I've ever seen you fight so…."

"Ferally?" Corrin suggested.

Leo's gaze sharpened. "Something like that. It was… impressive. Shocking, but…"

"I'm glad you think so," Corrin said, smiling with her fangs, crossing her legs as she sat on the sofa by the fire. "Haven't you noticed that side to me, Leo?"

Leo shook his head slowly. "Never so clearly as this. You truly wish to leave here, don't you?"

"Leo," she sighed. "I have enjoyed my life, but… I have been a prisoner from a child. I live only by the mercy of the man who imprisoned me. Can't you understand that?"

Leo lowered his voice. "Of course I do, Corrin." He sighed, letting his words hang between them. "Will you be able to control yourself around him?" Leo asked. "He'll surely want to see you, if only to gauge how obedient you will be. You've hidden your dislike of him from Xander, Camilla, and Elise, but… I saw the way you reacted, today, when Xander mentioned him. Corrin, you can't let anyone know. He will not hesitate to—"

"I know," she interrupted him, grasping his hands. "I know, Leo. He will not get the best of me. I promise."

His hands were warm in hers. "I can't lose you, Corrin," he said clearly. "Especially not to my father's wrath."

"_Your_ father?" she prodded, mostly to remind herself that this closeness between them was not allowed.

Leo winced, but held her gaze, brown eyes boring into hers. "Corrin…" he confessed. "You must know… I have never seen you as—"

Corrin leaned in against her better judgment, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly she nearly missed the knock on the door. "Mi_lord_," a voice called, nearly serpentine in the way the word was drawn out.

Leo's expression shuttered, the fervent sincerity wiped from his countenance, to be replaced by a weariness that seemed to sink into his bones. "Yes, Niles?"

Niles? Oh yes, that was the name of his retainer, the one each of her proclaimed siblings had individually forbidden her from interacting with. That in itself would hardly have deterred her from making friends, but the wily retainer always slipped away before she could corner him for a conversation. Presumably, he had been issued similar warnings and had found it in his best interest to heed them. Given this tendency of his, their card game last night had been something of a bizarre event, as she tried to goad him into speaking to her and he steadfastly ignored her.

"Might I slip into milord's chambers? I thought you might desire… _sustenance_."

Corrin nearly blushed at the implications of his words. She had not considered that Leo might be… otherwise inclined. She felt momentarily frustrated and tears nearly sprang to her eyes, but she fought them back through sheer force of will. It would give everything away to cry now, and, at any rate, was this not for the best? If Leo was already spoken for, it would leave her with far less temptation to come clean with him. She was already much too close to letting slip dangerous secrets.

Leo's long-suffering groan at his retainer's words swiftly disabused her of such notions. He did not react as a person whose liaisons had been suddenly outed, but rather as a man who had been put-upon to deal with a recurring menace. "Niles, must you make such remarks _every _time you see fit to deliver my lunch?"

The resulting chuckle was downright devious. "Only so long as it elicits such a… pleasurable result."

Leo sighed again, shooting Corrin an apologetic grimace. "Enter, if you must." The door squeaked open immediately, and Leo frowned, likely making a note of the rusty hinges. Knowing Leo's thorough nature, he would see the staff informed before their departure.

"Oh," Niles positively crowed. "Milord has _company. _How positively scandalous. My apologies for the unwanted interruption. Should I leave you to resume your… _activities_?"

It was the dramatic pauses, Corrin decided. They did most of Niles's work for him, when it came to delivering every line in the most provocative manner possible. Corrin shook her head lightly. It seemed Niles was just wired to toy with people's perceptions. There was nothing romantic between him and his liege.

Corrin quickly covered herself, slipping back into her 'sisterly' persona as best she could. "You really think that Leo and I were up to something like that?" She feigned an incredulous laugh. "He's my _brother_."

She desperately hoped—oh, but how she didn't hope—that she imagined Leo's wince at the word 'brother'. The only thing worse than her heartbreak if he did not reciprocate her feelings was the heartbreak that awaited them _both_ if he did.

Niles, now halfway across the room with his steaming silver tray, pinned her with a _look_, and all of a sudden, it was very clear to her that somehow, this retainer _knew_. Knew all the dirty little thoughts she kept in her head, the illicit fantasies she had entertained, the fanciful daydreams she often slipped into. He knew how close she was to madness when it came to his liege.

Corrin glared back because he must never, ever tell.

The retainer's answering eye-roll further informed her that he _had_ told, numerous times, but his liege had not extended him the courtesy of believing him. She could not keep a frown of indignation off her face. Her desires had been told to Leo point-blank, and he had deemed them impossible. Either she had sold the ruse far better than she could have hoped, or Leo was in a very firm state of denial. She preferred the former, as the latter would indicate either dangerously low self-esteem on Leo's part or a very intense aversion to the nature of her affections.

Niles's expression slipped into a saucy grin. A _teasing _grin. "Brother, you say? Forgive me, Lady Corrin. I have no siblings myself, so it's possible I may have mistaken the nature of such a relationship. Tell me…" He placed the tray on Leo's desk and practically purred at her. "How do you _display _such affections? When a brother and a sister are alone in a room together… how do they _play?"_

Corrin blushed straight to her roots. "N-Nothing like you are imagining, surely…"

Niles laughed, leaning indolently against the desk. "Mm, what must _you _be imagining now to give you that delicious blush, I wonder?"

Dear gods, this man really could see into the darkest recesses of her mind, couldn't he?

Leo watched their interactions with the most adorable look of complete bafflement. Too confused to be embarrassed, it seemed. Or perhaps he was just too used to Niles's prodding. "I'm afraid I don't follow the two of you at all."

Niles shot her a look that clearly said, _Isn't he precious?_

She smirked a little, nonetheless glad that their conversation had gone over his head. Corrin smiled at Leo comfortingly. "Nothing you need worry about, Leo. Your retainer is just needling me."

Niles rolled his one visible eye, snorting. "I've heard it's typical for siblings to hide things from one another, but this is a bit excessive, Lady Corrin."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "You accuse her of hiding something from me?"

"Everyone has secrets, milord. Haven't you said that on occasion?" Niles replied as innocently as a man so accustomed to sounding suspect could.

"Yes, but—"

"But it doesn't pertain to your lovely _sister?_ My my, what a pedestal you have put her on."

"Niles," Leo warned, perhaps in response to how close Niles's tone was inching towards insubordination.

"Forgive me, milord. Just food for thought." He made to leave the room, gesturing to the delivered meal. "I confess I did not bring any for the Lady Corrin. Shall I fetch another meal? So that you two might delight in each other's company?"

Leo looked to Corrin in question, and she shook her head, wanting to escape any follow-up questions from the headstrong prince. "Felicia will have prepared something for me in my quarters," Corrin explained, rising from her seat. "I shouldn't keep her waiting."

Leo's disappointment was clear. "Corrin…"

She smiled apologetically. "She's been teaching me the language of the Ice Tribe over meals. Perhaps we can talk later, Leo?"

"Of course," he answered reluctantly. "I could never dissuade you from learning new things."

She smiled at him and fled the room to Niles's disapproving stare.

The first time Corrin had met Lilith, she had cried with relief.

Well, truly, the first time she met Lilith, she hadn't recognized her. Lilith's dragon form so resembled a bird to her child's eyes that she had not thought to compare it to the images in her dreams. But when Lilith reappeared, this time as a maiden with plaited blue hair and a strange red mark on her forehead, a week after Corrin nursed a poor bird to health, the little girl immediately saw through her claims of being a Nohrian maid looking for work. As soon as she caught Lilith alone, she tackled the woman in a hug, tears pouring from her eyes at the proof that her dreams were not fiction when they showed her a blood family of her own. Admittedly, hers and Lilith's relation was somewhat tenuous and complicated, but it was real and it was hers, and she was determined to make the best of it.

Lilith, for her part, had nearly had a panic attack. At the time, Corrin had not understood at all, but Lilith had since managed to explain—with great difficulty, considering the Vallite curse—that she had not intended for Corrin to realize her identity, and when Corrin saw through her disguise, she feared for their father's life. Despite the madness he had fallen into, Lilith did not care to see him hurt, and she thought that Corrin would seek revenge.

Upon hearing that, Corrin had attempted to reassure her—though she was not sure to what extent she succeeded—that she loved their father, and sought only to fulfill her destiny and free him from his madness, in whatever form that might take. If Lilith took issue with her plan, she never spoke a word of it, merely playing with her and fulfilling the role of 'big sister' as best she could.

It was a great comfort to Corrin, having someone in her waking life who knew the truth of her visions and could share in her knowledge of her past and the greater world, even if Corrin was forced to hide some _future_ events from her, as well. After her talk with Leo, and in anticipation of their leaving the Northern Fortress, Corrin sought her out for just that comfort.

"Lady Corrin," Lilith greeted her warmly. "How can I help you?" She dusted the flour off her fingers from where she had been kneading dough for their dinner.

"Would I be pulling you from your work if I tore you away now?" Corrin asked with a glance around the bustling kitchen.

Lilith shook her head. "I'm just about through with this, and Cook said I could have the rest of the night off after. If you could just stick around while I clean up?" she asked.

Corrin nodded. "Of course!"

Lilith swatted her hand lightly. "And no stealing treats from the pantry again! We're light on those as it is."

Corrin laughed, saluting. "Yes, _mother_."

Lilith just sighed indulgently before beginning to tidy up her station. Corrin retreated to wait in and out-of-the-way corner, and a few minutes later, the two of them retreated to Corrin's chambers, where the walls were thick enough to prevent eavesdropping. "What's on your mind, Lady Corrin?"

Corrin sighed at her, frustrated. "_Lilith…_"

Lilith lowered her voice. "Little sister, then, since you insist."

"I just…" Corrin trailed off, vulnerable in a way she did not allow herself to be around anyone else.

"I know…" Lilith's body language softened. "I know it comforts you, but … It's just dangerous, little sister. If someone overheard, you'd be in serious danger."

"As would you," Corrin admitted guiltily. "I just can't help feeling it's worth it, to have this time, just the two of us."

"I know," Lilith said, running a hand through Corrin's blue hair fondly. "I heard we're leaving soon."

"You're coming?" Corrin gasped, relief flooding her. "I thought I might have to sneak you out."

Lilith chuckled. "Yes! I managed to convince the stewardess to send me with your retinue."

"My retainers are accompanying me, too, aren't they?" Corrin inquired worriedly. "I hadn't even thought to ask."

"I think so," Lilith answered. "But you should check, just to be certain."

Corrin nodded slowly.

"So, what is troubling you?" Lilith asked, folding her legs beside her as she sank down onto the lush carpet instead of a chair. Corrin followed, sitting cross-legged in front of her half-sister.

"Garon, leaving, dreams…" she bit her lip lightly before admitting, "Leo."

Lilith sighed. "The first three, worry me, as well. But I still don't understand why you torment yourself so over Prince Leo."

"I don't mean to, Lilith. I keep telling myself to forget him, that my destiny is more important—"

"Which it _is—_" Lilith interjected, not without sympathy.

"I know… But it's… difficult."

"It would be," Lilith sighed, pulling Corrin into a hug. "You just have to stay focused, sister. Don't worry about what you can't change. And maybe, once your destiny comes about, the situation with him will have changed, too."

"In a good way, preferably," Corrin said pessimistically.

"That things will change is inevitable," Lilith said, brushing Corrin's hair out of her face. "But we can't always dictate when or how."

Corrin snorted lightly. "Just because a phrase is true does not make it comforting."

Lilith smiled. "No, but it's worth repeating. So what have you dreamed?" Her voice betrayed her curiosity.

"Mostly Father, playing with me. Teaching me about my dragon half."

Lilith frowned, a sort of sad, jealous-against-her-will, wistful expression. She missed Anankos, Corrin knew, and Corrin hated that her sister could not share in her dreams. But Corrin had yet to discover _why _their father could contact her, even after the human part of him had seemingly died. The madness had not affected the man—the dragon—in her dreams, so it could not be the Silent Dragon as he was now, but she could not otherwise fathom how a part of him, still sane, lived on in her dreams. "Those are good dreams, then? Why do they worry you?"

Corrin shook her head. "It's the rest that bother me. Some are dreams of the future. An explosion with no source, men that can't be seen—" She shared a significant look with her sister here. "A bloody war, with people I love on both sides of the battlefield."

"Your Hoshidan siblings?" Lilith asked, and sighed at Corrin's nod. "What of Lady Mikoto?"

"Her d-death approaches," Corrin admitted, tears welling in her eyes. "Though I haven't seen it yet. And still I've yet to meet her outside my dreams. I kn-know it will happen, but I fear I'll have little time with her afterwards."

Lilith's voice softened. "It's a shame. I had hoped to meet the one who gave birth to such a precious child." She pressed a kiss softly to Corrin's temple. When Corrin regained a little of her composure, Lilith asked, "Have you seen anything more about your destiny?"

"A few snippets of things too far in the future to offer hints one way or another. An engagement ring, an empty casket, a knighting ceremony. No details surrounding any of them. But I've seen up to the moment of divergence, the place my path splits in twain. I always wake before the choice. I suspect I won't know what I decide until the moment comes," Corrin explained worriedly.

"You'll do the right thing, Corrin. I have faith in you."

Corrin's fangs flashed in her determination. "I will. I must." Any other outcome was unacceptable.


	3. Chapter 3

I noticed I have a couple reviews now. I appreciate the feedback, and I'm _delighted _to hear that someone is enjoying Visions. I am not entirely sure what the etiquette is on ff for responding to them, though. If anyone cares to enlighten me, that would be lovely.

Additionally, I believe my little mishap with the first chapter has been corrected now, so it should be readable as intended.

**Visions of a Shattered Past**

**Chapter 3**

"_Wyvern, wyvern, how do you fly?_

_A pair of wings that part the sky._

_Wyvern, wyvern, how do you roar?_

_A voice that echoes through all Nohr._

_Wyvern, wyvern, how do you fight?_

_Sharpened claws that show your might._

_Wyvern, wyvern, how do you die?_

_Madness born from desperate pride."_

_The children's rhyme echoed in Corrin's head as her dream began. Not once did she recall hearing it, but somehow she knew it intimately; it was an old Vallite rhyme, one meant to warn not against the insanity of wyverns, but against the deterioration of the Greater Dragons and the manaketes, the madness that came with age. Apparently, it had not succeeded in its goal, for here Valla laid before her, empty and desecrated by the rage of the Silent Dragon. _

_A young girl, with blue hair like Corrin's but eyes the color of amber resin, fled across one of the floating islands, pursued only by a shimmering haze that tore across the landscape. The girl gasped for breath, clutching at her side as if she had developed a stitch. Clearly, she had been running far longer than her body was equipped to handle. _

"_You are the … ocean's gray… waves, destined to seek life beyond… the shore—" the girl choked out between breaths as she approached a pool of water, vaguely carrying a tune as she waded into the shallows. "Just out of reach!" she finished, slipping under the water mere moments before the haze caught up to her. Corrin watched carefully, but the girl never surfaced. Had she drowned?_

_Apparently not, for Corrin herself suddenly flew towards the pool, falling beneath the water and resurfacing on the other side, surrounded not by Vallite architecture but by a cool lake, ringed with bright, flowering trees. She must be in Hoshido now, Corrin assumed, recognizing such a colorful land as the typical setting of dreams about her mother and her Hoshidan family. The young blue-haired girl clambered out of the water, collapsing on the shore, heaving great, deep breaths and generally seeming to both panic and relax at the close call. Corrin watched her sympathetically, feeling a close kinship with her. _

"_Azura!" A kind, though worried, voice called, its sound beautiful to Corrin's ears, and she recognized it immediately as her mother's. _

"_H-here!" The girl—of course, it was Azura, Corrin realized now, but she dreamed so rarely about her cousin that she often struggled to remember—answered, her voice hoarse as she struggled to sit up and make herself presentable, seeming dismayed when she noticed there was nothing to be done about the water saturating her hair and clothes. _

"_Aunt Mikoto…" Azura said timidly as Corrin's mother came into view, emerging from the trees. _

_Mother gasped, breaking into a run the second she took in her niece's haggard appearance—though she made even that hurried pace look graceful. "Azura, are you hurt?"_

"_N-No," Azura stuttered, her eyes filling with tears. At that age, Corrin suspected it was difficult to hide her emotions, even when she tried. "B-But…"_

"_Dear Azura…" Mother breathed, pulling Azura into her embrace while she examined her for injuries, heedless of the water now staining her own fine silks. "I've told you not to use your powers like that… It's dangerous there!"_

_Azura sobbed. "But I miss…"_

"_I know, you miss them. But they aren't there anymore, and I can't be there to defend you." She took Azura's head in her hands, cupping her cheeks firmly. "Promise me you will not go back until you are old enough to defend yourself."_

"_Aunt Mi—"_

"Promise _me, Azura!"_

"_Y-Yes… I promise."_

"_Good," Mother breathed a sigh of relief. "I need you safe, Azura. I can't lose another child."_

_They sat there immeasurably long, Azura sobbing in the queen's arms, and Corrin missed her mother so fiercely that it ached. _

_The scene faded eventually, and Corrin fell into another dream. This time, instead of a rhyme, there was singing, a deep baritone that soothed her aching heart. _

"_My little spirit girl, be brave and stand up tall._

_Let your flame burn bright for me. _

_My little spirit girl, seek out the distant call._

_Let your waves crash over me._

_My little spirit girl, find friends and allies fair. _

_Let your heart beat true for me. _

_My little spirit girl, fight back against despair. _

_Let your soul shine bright for me. _

_Let your dragon wake for me._

_Let not silence fall on me."_

_As the verse ended, Corrin opened her eyes to see a man with long blue hair, pointed ears, and her red eyes, gazing at her fondly. "My little dragon." _

_Corrin barreled into her father, tackling him into a hug. _

"_Corrin? What happened?"_

_Corrin tried to hold back her tears, but she always found it near impossible to hide her emotions from her father. Whether that was some effect he had on her, or some aspect of this dream space, she knew not. "My dreams have been dark, Father, and I … I miss my family."_

_He combed his fingers through her hair comfortingly. "I will always be here waiting for you, child. And you shall see your mother again soon, yes?"_

_Corrin blinked fiercely. "And not long after that, she will be _dead! _How can I make peace with that?"_

"_You have made peace with your own death, haven't you? You know a seer's own death is the first thing they see. The most indelible mark."_

"_Yes…" Corrin admitted. But her own death did not weigh near so heavily upon her. _

"_Your mother has had years upon years to prepare for her demise, as I did. I died for my child, and I died without regrets. Do not weep for me, and do not weep for your mother, for she will not die without a cause." Corrin thought of Lilith, and how her father had shielded her in his last moments. She could see how he died without hesitation. She would do much the same for her loved ones. _

"_But I'll never see her again," Corrin said soberly. "I can see you here."_

"_You'll see your mother, too. They'll simply be memories, not a genetic imprint."_

_Corrin wiped the tears from her eyes, forcing her brain to focus on this new information. "Is that what this is? A genetic memory?"_

"_Something like that. The whole truth will come in time."_

"'_In time.' Why not now?" Corrin asked. _

"_Your mind and body are not prepared, and your destiny still uncharted. Answers will have to wait, my little dragon."_

_Corrin sighed, shaking her head in lieu of replying. When her father withheld information from her, he would not sway his decisions for anything, save time. _

"_Would you like to fly with me, Corrin? I think we shall skip combat and control today. The weeks have been rough on you."_

_Corrin nodded, standing and calling upon the animalistic part of her, the part that flashed fangs and snarled when the world offended her, that kept her blood flowing when she was attacked. Her bones reformed, and her skin became scales, and water poured over her body as she sprouted wings, letting out a pained roar. _

_Anankos transformed himself, his form larger than hers by far, but nothing like the terror she had seen responsible for the destruction of Valla. Together, they took wing, soaring through the skies. Corrin relished in the wind beneath her wings, screamed her anguish to the sky, and for the first time in a while, she felt something approaching peace. _

Leo's eyes carefully followed her as they approached the throne room, and for once, she derived no satisfaction from it. He was worried for her, and rightly so. Corrin, despite all her brave words, was not at all certain she could maintain her composure around King Garon. Hatred and fear of that magnitude were difficult to suppress. She made sure her expression was carefully schooled, showing no emotion whatsoever. It would be the safest expression to keep to under pressure. Let the others attribute it to nerves; they would not be far off the mark.

The king lounged on his throne when they were announced and entered the long chamber. Pillars lined the room, and carvings like long, tangling vines climbed the stone walls. Sconces cast shadows across the floor, and the air was chilly, though that might have been Corrin's trepidation leaving her cold. The throne was perched atop a dias, an expansive flight of stairs separating them from their sovereign. A red carpet cascaded down them, and a decorated stone tablet rested on the ceiling. Its depiction unsettled Corrin. Was that _Anankos?_

"Father," Xander addressed him as they all bowed, or in Elise's case, curtseyed. At Garon's motion, they relaxed their stances. "Might I present Princess Corrin?"

The king's gaze narrowed on her, and she had to work to suppress a shudder. "I see you made it here safely, Corrin."

"Yes, Father," she said, her tone even. "It feels something like a dream." Let him take that as a compliment, if he wished. He needn't know that this tableau reminded her more of her nightmares.

King Garon nodded graciously. "It is only thanks to your diligence that you are here. I am told you are now a warrior almost on par with Xander. You finally possess the strength to be an instrument of Nohr's power in the world."

At her side, Leo's face showed not a hint of his unease, but his hand performed a circling motion that formed half of Brynhildr's incantation, and Corrin knew he was appalled. Similarly, she was seething inside. Fifteen years, King Garon had waited to _use _her like this. The most delicious form of irony there was: the stolen child, fashioned into a weapon to be wielded against her people. How _dare _he.

Elise, kind soul that she was, had a different concern. "But Father, will Corrin be alright outside of the fortress?"

"I worry about that, as well," Camilla chimed in. "Isn't it dangerous for Corrin to live outside the fortress's magical barrier?"

Their worry for Corrin was endearing, but under the circumstances, Corrin did not exactly want them questioning her abilities. Did they think to keep her there into her twenties, or gods forbid, her thirties, for fear of some unknown danger? "I appreciate your concern," Corrin asserted. "But I earned my way here, and I'm ready to face the world."

Garon waved his hand as if dismissing their petty trifles. "Corrin, as you _should _know—" His tone implied that he had serious doubts about the efficacy of her tutoring. "Nohr is at war with the eastern kingdom of Hoshido."

She worked very hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Yes, Father. I have heard as much." From the warning look on Leo's face and the worry on Camilla's, she did not quite succeed.

Garon, thankfully, did not seem to notice. "We of the royal family are descendants of the ancient gods, the First Dragons. As inheritors of that divine strength, we conquer those who oppose us with ease. One who learns to wield that power can destroy an entire army of common troops. Xander, Camilla, and Leo have already shown that they possess this power. I expect no less from you."

Corrin scoffed inwardly. She had been learning straight from one of the First Dragons since she was a toddler. She likely knew far more about the strength of the old dragons than Garon could ever claim. "I am aware of your expectations, Father. I have trained every day to prove myself a match for them," she said levelly.

Garon smiled, and the sight was horrifying. "Hmm… you show promise. But you will need a suitable weapon in order to serve Nohr." From seemingly nowhere, he produced a sword, glowing eerily violet, its edges dull and crusty. From the menacing aura emanating from the weapon, she assumed it was plenty lethal despite its blunt appearance.

As she gazed at the blade, flashes of a forgotten dream stirred in her memory. _The blade at her hip, tugging away from her, as though pulled from some distant location by an insistent force. An explosion, there and over with too suddenly for screams to erupt. A strangled cry. A burst of anguish. _

She pulled herself out of the recollection swiftly, spinning her momentary dislocation into an awestruck trance. "Wow…" By Xander's skeptical expression and Leo's carefully blank face, she had oversold it.

"This is Ganglari," Garon continued. "A sword said to be infused with magic from another world. With this sword at your side, you will crush the Hoshidan army with ease." He offered it to her.

There was only one acceptable answer to that, despite her distaste for the weapon. "Thank you for this generous gift, Father."

"Hmm… Generous, indeed." Corrin nearly let her head swivel violently, but managed to contain herself to a casual glance to the side. Was that suspicion she heard—from _Xander?_ Was he more aware of his father's flaws than she thought?

Perhaps Garon was just accustomed to ignoring his children; he did not so much as acknowledge Xander's words, even to reprimand him. "Now, let us see you put that sword to its proper use… Bring out the prisoners!"

Corrin blanched. _No, no, no. Don't let this happen. _

The attendant at the side door, who must have been positioned there specifically for this eventuality, called, "Yes, sire!"

Through the side door, four more guards brought in three prisoners, all trussed up like pieces of meat. One of them, a fierce-looking woman with white hair and a red headpiece, was struggling and cursing, but the other two did not fight their captors. She recognized one of the others from her dreams of Hoshido; a green-haired man, wearing the trappings of a ninja. She vaguely recalled seeing him shadowing the royal family, guarding Azura especially. The other, a plain-looking man with generic Hoshidan garb, was completely unfamiliar to her.

Still, she could not let them die at her hand.

"These are prisoners from our most recent skirmish with Hoshido," Garon explained as they were led in. "I want to see your power with my own eyes. Use that sword to strike them down."

Prove her strength? Against unarmed prisoners? Prove her _loyalty_, more like. Corrin considered and dismissed the possibilities, one by one. Corrin stepped forward, addressing the prisoners respectfully. "I would know your names, before you die." It was not _too_ unorthodox, for the image she was trying to create. None of her Nohrian siblings would believe her if she were too callous about this, but if she played it this way, what her friends would see as a noble gesture, an appeal to their humanity, there was a decent chance that Garon would interpret as a very Nohrian quirk, a conqueror's desire to catalogue her conquests.

The woman snarled at her, tossing her head proudly. "I am Rinkah! Daughter of the Flame Tribe's honorable chieftain."

"I am Kaze," the ninja said next. "A ninja of Hoshido."

Corrin nodded to the third man. "And you?"

"Miharu, of Mozume, a small village in Hoshido," the man said quietly.

"Who are _you, _Nohrian? The woman who would cut off our heads at the behest of a _betrayer _king?" Rinkah spat.

Corrin ignored that. Frankly, she agreed with the woman's opinion of Garon. "I am Corrin."

"Princess Corrin?" Miharu asked. "Can it be?" He shared a glance with his companions.

"Huh?" she feigned confusion. "Have you heard of me?"

"Get on with it!" Garon interrupted.

"Yes, Father," she answered. "I'm sorry," she whispered to the Hoshidans, raising Ganglari and praying her plan worked. With a slash of the cursed sword, she swung just far enough to tear Rinkah's headdress from her head and cut the bonds between her wrists without scratching her body. At the exact point of impact, Corrin could have sworn the blade shimmered and turned razor sharp. Muttering Arcane under her breath as she lunged, two spells shot from her fingertips simultaneously: a transport spell and an immolation spell altered from those contained within the Fire tome. Used correctly, it would burn a person alive with nary a trace. Used without a living target, it created a column of flames so thick as to obscure anything within.

If her plan worked, they would be safe now—or as safe as they could be within Nohr's borders. The transport spell was not powerful enough to propel them to Castle Shirasagi, though she had enough familiarity with the area through her dreams to make a transport spell function.

Now, all that was left was to hope that Garon had not caught on to her subterfuge, and that her Nohrian siblings—those who had noticed—did not bring it to his attention. She hoped they would have the good sense not to, but she could never count on their disloyalty to him.

She bowed, her gaze fixed on the king. "As you said, Father."

His only response was a booming laugh. "A fiery, painful death. Fitting for these Hoshidan dogs. Good work, Corrin. I may have use of you yet."

Corrin tried to muster up a smile. "Thank you, Father."

"Now leave, all of you. I shall consider where you will be sent next, Corrin. I must reward you, after all, for your triumph."

Corrin did not like the sound of that at all, but she supposed that would be a problem for another day. "Yes, Father." She turned to leave the room with her siblings, taking Leo's offered arm.

The arm was just an excuse to pull her closer and whisper harshly in her ear as soon as they were out of Garon's eyesight. "What were you _thinking_?"

She shook her head, suppressing the shiver she felt at having him so close. "Just wait, Leo."

"If you get yourself _killed_ because of your bleeding heart—"

"Like you wouldn't have done the same!" she whispered back fiercely. "Tell me you would have sat there and followed orders."

Leo shook his head, sighing. "No, I wouldn't have. Be careful," he murmured. "I can't lose you."

"I'll do what I must, Leo," she answered grimly.

"Then I'll do what I must," he vowed, eyes boring into hers with dark promise. "Just remember that if you go, you take me down with you."

Corrin's eyes widened. "Leo, you can't mean—"

"I can and I _do_, Corrin," he insisted vehemently. "If you die at Father's hands, do you expect me to be able to carry on? Play the good soldier and keep my head down? No. If my intervention will save your life, I will act without _hesitation._"

Corrin was near panicking. How was she supposed to deal with this? How could this factor into her plans? None of this was anything she could control, and now Leo's life hung in the balance. She had always known how she would die, but she had not the faintest inkling when his time would come. She was not sure she could bear it if it came so soon.

"Leo…" she began to plead.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Elise asked, her cheery demeanor somewhat off-kilter. "Are we playing a game?"

Xander was scrutinizing them a bit too carefully for Corrin's liking, though Camilla merely looked relieved. "Congratulations, my darling sister," she said. "You passed your first test." Camilla took Corrin's face in her hands and smiled at her. "I'm so proud of you."

Xander cleared his throat. "I must say, I'm surprised at you, Corrin. I had not considered you to have the stomach for such killings. I had thought to step in myself and spare you from it."

_Then why didn't you? _her inner voice snapped. _Stand up for your morals for a change. _She sighed inwardly. She supposed she could hardly blame Xander. She had similar issues with the thought of killing her own father, mad as she knew he was, and her dreams afforded her far more clarity in such matters than Xander was given. And that is what any overt treason would turn into, when it came to King Garon: kill, be killed, or flee the country and hope the mad king does not care enough to hunt you down. No, she couldn't blame Xander.

"I am not pleased about it…" Corrin began slowly. "But Father commanded me to do it, and well… it's not _my _place to challenge his reign, is it?" She could not tell if Xander caught the underlying meaning in her words, the implication that _yes, _it was the _crown prince's _place to question his father's rule when those policies were cruel and despotic. But if she could plant the seeds before her forced separation from her Nohrian siblings, all the better.

Leo winced. "Please don't mention challenging Father's reign, Corrin. Even in the negative."

"Listen to Leo, my dear Corrin," Camilla urged. "Such words have no place here."

"My apologies, Camilla," she said. "I hadn't meant to worry you."

"Just be careful," Camilla sighed. "Now, who wants to show Corrin around Castle Krakenburg?"

Xander excused himself quickly, but the other three volunteered, and Corrin chose the eager Elise just to put off the inevitable confrontation with Leo just a bit longer. She needed the time to consider his words.

"Where did you send them?" were the first words from Leo's mouth the moment he cornered her in her new chambers.

Corrin sighed. "Outside that little fort on the border. We visited one year, around my birthday, remember? It was the only year I was allowed to leave the fortress. I notice the military schematics occasionally; it was captured by the Hoshidans three years ago."

Leo grimaced. "You sent them right back to their army?"

Corrin shrugged. "If I'm going to let them go at all, might as well send them home."

He dropped an armload on her bed. Assorted travel bags, it appeared. "What are these?" she asked curiously.

"Their effects," he answered idly. "I … procured them from the dungeons. I had thought to send them back to their owners."

Corrin was impressed, climbing onto her bed behind the bags and fixing him with an intent stare. "You have a spell for that?"

Leo smiled slightly. "Yes, although it's rather advanced. If I did not know where they were, I could not have cast it." He muttered under his breath in Arcane, sending the belongings off with a gesture. "I checked before I brought them," he explained. "There was nothing they could use against us in there, save their, rather commonplace, weapons. Just travel rations and a few personal keepsakes."

Corrin nodded thoughtfully. "Teach me the spell?"

Leo snorted. "What, so you can become even more scarily effective at subterfuge? And to think, Elise and Camilla consider you the innocent one."

Corrin gazed at him pleadingly.

He sighed. "Of course I'll teach you. Not right now, though."

Corrin sighed herself. "I suppose you want to talk about what happened—"

"Yes!" Leo emphatically insisted.

Corrin grimaced. "First: only Camilla and Elise think I'm innocent? What does Xander think?"

Leo blinked, settling on the edge of the bed and taking her hand. "Corrin, we're not fools, and we're not as indulgent as Camilla or as naive as Elise. Both of us know that you're hiding something. The difference is that I trust it's for a reason, while Xander thinks you're in over your head. He wants to save you from your own stupidity." Corrin smiled faintly, and Leo caught it, shaking his head. "You're both alike in that way."

Corrin laughed lightly, squeezing his hand. "Is it that obvious?"

"Perhaps only to me," he answered, squeezing back. "But I know how much you wish Xander would see Father for the man he is, rather than the man he was."

"He's a _tyrant, _Leo," she whispered, finally letting the words she wanted to say out into the world.

"I know," Leo responded, voice just as low, eyes haunted. It astonished her, how readily he echoed her treason. "But what can we _do_, Corrin?"

"Anything! Anything but stand idly by and watch as he tears apart the continent!"

Leo shook his head. "And risk our family?"

"And is our family more important than all of Hoshido and Nohr?" she demanded. "Even if it is, what if his madness worsens? What if family is the next thing to go?"

Leo winced. "Then we die at the hands of a madman."

"I don't want to lose any of you, Leo. Don't ask me not to act."

"I'm not," Leo sighed eventually. "Just… Don't act foolishly."

"I won't. I promise." She brought their joined hands to her lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of his hand. "I'll be safe."

His eyes widened at her gesture. "Corrin…"

She realized what she had done rather too late, dropping their hands like a hot skillet, her eyes widening in horror. "S-Sorry, I don't know what got into me." She tried to think of a way to bluff her way out of this one, when her gesture was clearly romantic, but she came up with nothing. "Gods." Even if his denial was keeping him from putting the pieces together now, he would surely, given time to think, be aware of what she was not saying. It would be better now to explain and weather his reaction.

Leo chuckled rather incredulously. "You lie to Father nearly flawlessly, but the second you have something to hide from me—"

"I fall apart," Corrin admitted. "Gods, why do you do this to me, Leo?"

"I don't under—" He took a breath. "What, exactly, do I do to you?"

"You make me want to admit things better left unsaid," Corrin revealed slowly. "Dangerous things."

"Corrin…" he said, brow furrowing. "I trust you more than anyone. But you've been in the Northern Fortress your entire life. What secrets could you be keeping that would be so dangerous?"

Corrin bit her lip. "Don't tell me you can't see what one of them is, Leo. Niles must have told you."

"Niles? What has he to do with—" His eyes widened. "Do you mean—?" He looked between the two of them with alarm. "Corrin, Niles told me that you loved me."

"I do love you," Corrin answered immediately, although she managed to keep the reverence and the painful sincerity out of her tone.

"As something other than a brother, Corrin," he chided, eyes still wider than she had ever seen them, a hint of something she could not define lurking in their depths.

"Your retainer has sharp eyes," was her only reply.

Leo choked, sinking back onto the bed beside her, cradling his face in his hands. "This is madness, Corrin. How could you possibly feel—"

She snapped at him, affronted by the mention of madness, though she herself had been prone to call it that upon occasion. "I don't know, Leo. I just can't fathom it. How could I fall for a clever, handsome man who makes my heart beat faster each time he enters a room, who drives me to distraction? How could I love someone who commits the colossal sin of _trusting _me beyond reason, someone who does something so heinous as vow to protect my life with his own? One of the only people who kept me sane in my long imprisonment, who stayed up with me on nights when the pain and the loneliness became too much. Who shares his knowledge with me, delights in my triumphs, and respects me as an equal—What could I possibly see in such a man?" She was breathing hard by the end of her quiet tirade.

Leo seemed not to so much as blink, stunned into silence. His voice rasped when he finally spoke. "I do not deserve your devotion, Corrin."

"You have it, regardless," Corrin insisted. "What we each deserve has no bearing."

"I—I had not thought…" Leo whispered, as if to himself.

"And what of you?" she asked tiredly, not exactly heartened by his reaction. "Am I a fool for feeling thus? Do you consider me as a sister?"

"I should…" Leo said, as though by acknowledging it, he was committing a great sin. "I should see you as Camilla and Elise do, and maybe then I would not hate myself."

Her heart ached to hear that. "Do not despise yourself, Leo. You are worth _so much, _and not only to me."

He laughed rather hopelessly. "You are biased, I fear. And you do not know the magnitude of the injustice that has been done to us."

Did he refer to the lie that they both lived under—Garon's claiming of her as his child? Or did he speak of something else? Even now, she could not admit to knowing, not when revealing her visions would further endanger them both. Now all that she could hope for was that he knew the secret himself and that he would tell her so she would not have to expose her own knowledge.

"I am no stranger to injustice, Leo." That was an understatement, if she had ever heard one.

"You are not particularly tolerant of it, either," he said with a half-hearted smirk.

"True enough," she laughed shortly. "Shall I assume that means you feel similarly to me?" she asked more soberly.

"Yes," Leo admitted reluctantly. "For far longer than I feel comfortable admitting."

Corrin sighed, joy warring with pain. "There is no future for us like this, Leo. Not when the king would sooner see me mindless and broken than happy in love, and not when the entire realm names us as family."

"We would have to flee the palace," Leo agreed. "And even that is not an option for you. My desertion, Father might ignore, but to let you escape…"

"I'd be dead without some kind of protection," Corrin skirted around the truth, still speaking factually, but neglecting to mention that she _would _have protection, of a sort.

"And we cannot abandon Xander, Camilla, and Elise," he sighed. "Nor can we thoughtlessly relinquish our positions, if you still wish to save the world from Father's warmongering." He took her hand in his. "Why is the deck stacked against us, Corrin?"

Corrin shook her head helplessly, leaning into his embrace. "I don't know. But maybe… Maybe things will change, one day."

"Gods, I hope you are right."


	4. Chapter 4

So parts of this chapter might be a little awkward, as the song contained within it was originally supposed to be (strangely, since, as evidenced by the previous chapter, I have no qualms about making up songs when it suits me) a song that already exists. You might have heard it; it was from a little game called _Doki Doki Literature Club_ (which is actually kind of creepy in retrospect, but we shan't blame the song for its game's distinctive vibes. Its words and tune just seemed to fit, to me). However, ff has certain regulations about using song lyrics in stories, so I replaced it with a made-up song that, honestly, did not fit as well with what I was trying to do. As a result, the flow might be somewhat broken around those parts. It's nothing major (_yet_), but I thought I had better explain.

Also, I included in this chapter what the internet assures me is a rather mild Japanese curse because it felt more natural in that context than the "Dastards!" that Fire Emblem characters like Chrom overuse. If it's strange or incorrect, feel free to tell me what makes more sense, and I'll alter it.

**Visions of a Shattered Past **

**Chapter Four**

_Her dreams that night were strange. They began, once again, with a song, although this time, she struggled to make out the words through the dream's haze._

"Will this day be the one that brings us together again?

Knowing us, we'll find our way blocked, and we can't change it though we try.

All these hurdles keep us from living,

But we'll find the key—the key to open up our hearts.

This universe is cruel and capricious.

Can our love keep us alive another day?

Can our love keep us alive another day?"

_There were no clear images accompanying the sounds, just a blurry smile, a burst of love, the pain of longing. The colors cyan, yellow, and magenta—the soft music of a piano. The next few lines were nearly incomprehensible, and she caught only a few words here and there:_

"Will I find you... right here?

When I'm gone, live on without my... courage..."

_Then the voice was stronger, the high alto of it light._

"Are the only ones we can trust each other?

Read between the lines of each teardrop that I cried.

People will fail and feelings, they change.

Can our love last into the darkened night?"

_Discontent filtered through, the pain of loss. Harsh shouting, a mournful cry, a crown lying abandoned in the dirt._

"The key we found, will it unlock greater danger instead?

Not the love that saves, but the very monster I dread?

All these hurdles keep us from living.

Nothing light comes from fear and pain.

When you're gone, and the people I love are far from me..."

_The sound blurred again, the images in her mind bleeding together as if seen through water, or perhaps ink._

"...Will destiny find me and bring me to you?

Perhaps I'll never know."

_The dream changed after that, though it was still incomprehensible. This time, however, she felt tears in her eyes and heard her own stuttered breathing in her ears and felt her hands tremble. She saw the trees before her clearly, though she was surrounded by people whose features were obscured._

_"How long have you been hiding this? He's Nohrian—he can't be trusted!"_

_"She can't help it—" She knew the speaker was scowling, though she could not see their face. "She's drawn to them like a codger to drink."_

_"It can't continue! What if..." the words here were indistinct, but then they finished—"betrays us to them… gives us all away?"_

Let me speak!_ she pleaded, but could not say aloud. _Let me defend myself!

_"It's as if I no longer know you… Mikoto would be so ashamed."_

_With those ominous words, the dream faded out again, and this time she stood alone, in front of a tombstone. She could not make out the name engraved upon it. __"It's all my fault!" she cried, finally able to speak. "I didn't—I failed, and now you're dead! Please… please forgive me."_

_And upon waking, she remembered no more than this._

It was the air in Castle Krakenburg, Corrin decided when she roused from her sleep. She imagined she would have no pleasant dreams so long as she remained in this malevolent keep. Troubled, she readied herself for the day—with Jakob's fastidious help—before seeking out Elise. Surely, the upbeat girl would lift her spirits and distract her from her nightmares.

She found her in the kitchen, chatting with her retainer, a compact, white-haired woman with the deep voice whom Corrin had never seen sans her heavy armor.

"...I wouldn't worry about that!" Elise assured her retainer. "I think you're plenty strong already!"

"One mustn't neglect one's responsibilities, Lady Elise," the retainer—Effie was her name, Corrin recalled—countered between bites of the feast laid out before her. "I need to be strong enough to protect you from anything."

"Aw, that's sweet," Elise replied as Corrin approached them. "But I still think you might be overdoing it," she continued stubbornly. "Besides, doesn't eating all that food make it harder for you to move in an emergency?"

"Oh yes," Effie said blithely. "In fact, I'm having trouble moving right now." She waved her hand a little helplessly.

Elise was appalled. "What? Does that mean we can't go for a walk now?" she demanded.

"Don't worry," Effie teased. "You can just roll me on my side instead."

Elise pouted cutely. "No, that's okay. We'll just walk together some other day."

Neither of them had acknowledged Corrin's presence yet, so she cut in, hoping she was not intruding. "If you're looking for a partner to walk with you, I can accompany you, Elise. Although I understand if you just wanted to spend time with your retainer."

Elise blinked at her, then clapped her hands. "Big sister! I didn't see you there! Sure, we can walk together! That is, if you're alright here, Effie?" she asked with a glance to her retainer, who had resumed digging into her food with a rather disturbing intensity.

Effie waved her on. "Of course, Lady Elise. Have fun with Princess Corrin."

Elise winked at her. "I will! And I'll be sure she has lots of fun, too! She's been kind of grumpy lately."

Corrin immediately denied her words. "I have not!"

Elise grabbed her hand, giggling. "Yes, you have! Leo, too. I tried to cheer him up earlier, but he told me he was working." She scrunched her nose in distaste, pulling Corrin along as she skipped out of the kitchen, following some hallway Corrin did not recognize. It was only thanks to a passing servant's directions that she had even found her way to the kitchens in the first place.

"Sooooooo…" Elise drew out the word. "Why were you looking for me, big sister?"

Corrin poked her side teasingly. "What makes you think I was looking for you, you little monster?"

Elise giggled. "You came _aaaallll_ the way down to the kitchens, but you didn't grab a snack!"

"Of course," Corrin shook her head. "Well, you're right. I was hoping we could spend some time together."

"Awww," Elise cooed, pulling her into a half-hug as they walked. "How did you find me?"

"Ah," Corrin said. "I could hear your laughter all the way from my rooms! I just followed the sound of little tinkling bells." In truth, she had simply asked Jakob, her retainer having spotted the princess as he went about his duties.

Elise giggled again, swinging their arms back and forth after releasing Corrin from the hug and reclaiming her hand. "So, where should we go?"

"Is there a greenhouse around here? I'm in the mood for flowers," Corrin admitted. Here in the heart of Nohr, the only way to cultivate blooming flowers was in a specialized greenhouse or through some sort of growing magic such as Leo's Brynhildr.

"Mm-hmm!" Elise confirmed. "It's this way!" she tugged through a door into a different set of corridors, heading to a flight of stairs to take them higher in the castle. "It's a _loooooooong_ walk, though! The flowers grow better where the sunlight can reach them, and they're in the east wing so they can be closer to the _queen secundus_'s chambers! Everyone says Father built the flowering greenhouse for Queen Arete because she missed seeing the greenery when she moved to the castle."

Queen Arete, her studies had taught her, was the second wife of King Garon. She was given the status of _queen secundus_, despite their marriage having taken place after the death of his first wife, Queen Katerina. Corrin assumed that this was out of respect for Garon's and Arete's former spouses.

From her dreams, Corrin knew that Queen Arete was also her aunt—being the sister of Corrin's mother Mikoto—and Azura's mother, as well as widow to the late king of Valla. It lent her a certain insight into Elise's words; having seen the overgrowth of flora on Valla, she supposed it would be quite a change for Queen Arete to dwell in Nohr, where only certain hardy plants took root without assistance.

Corrin was not entirely sure how Queen Arete had died, but she dearly wished she had not. Her dwindling family alarmed her, true, but even more than that, Corrin regretted that, given Garon's intense personality change following her death, it was likely that Arete's demise had opened the door for the dragon's madness to overtake him. Garon had not been a perfect king prior to Arete's death, and the concubine wars were just one example of that, but there was no denying his madness had worsened the situation to an extent that beggared belief.

Corrin absentmindedly hummed a tune under her breath as she and Elise fell into a comfortable sort of silence. At first she could not place it, but after a few seconds, she realized it was the same one from her dream. _Will this day be the one that brings us together again?_

The words—the ones she could remember, anyway—felt deeply meaningful, and given the sadness inherent in them, she dearly hoped they had no bearing on her own life. Even so, she definitely found herself relating to them a bit too much. She struggled not to let her thoughts drift to her recent conversation with Leo, and she squeezed Elise's hand tightly for comfort at the thought of losing any of the people dear to her. Elise shot her a worried look. "Corrin? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Elise," she reassured her. "Just a scary thought."

Elise hummed, walking closer to her. "Castle Krakenburg _is_ kind of scary, isn't it?" she whispered dramatically, as if sharing a secret. In her regular voice, she chirped, "But all of us are here with you. Xander, Camilla, and Leo will protect you!"

Corrin smiled thinly. There were things even they—formidable warriors though they were—could not protect her from. "I know, Elise. I'm glad you all are here with me."

Elise gave her a side-eye, as if she was not quite convinced by Corrin's words, but she changed the subject. "So what song was that you were humming? It sounded pretty!"

"I'm not sure where it came from, or what it's called," Corrin admitted. "But I can sing the parts I remember, if you like."

Elise smiled, nodding her head firmly. "Yay!" She looked to Corrin expectedly.

Corrin took a second to remember the lyrics before she began to sing. "Will this day be the one that brings us together again…"

After the first verse, tears were welling in Elise's eyes. Corrin just hummed the middle part, which she could barely remember, and sang the last verse. "...Will destiny find me and bring me to you? Perhaps I'll never know.," she finished, and Elise let out a breath.

"The tune sounded kind of cheerful, but it's really sad," Elise said mournfully. "But beautiful, isn't it?"

Corrin nodded. "I thought so."

"Are you in love with someone, Corrin?" Elise asked suddenly. "You sang that like… like you knew how it felt."

"I…" She needed to lie to Elise, but she was not sure how. "In love? No. But it's very easy to relate, isn't it?"

Elise nudged her. "It's alright if you don't want to tell me. But…" she bit her lip in thought. "Is it Silas?"

_Silas?_ Why did that name sound familiar? "Who is that?" Corrin asked with confusion.

"N-Nobody!" Elise covered quickly. "Just someone I thought I remembered. But I must have met him somewhere else."

Strange. Elise was hiding something, and Corrin did not know about it. Apparently there were secrets around here that her dreams had not revealed to her. That was a little refreshing, actually, though worrisome.

"We're here!" Elise chirped, tugging Corrin through a doorway into an enormous courtyard. In the center was a massive greenhouse, and Elise sped up to open the glass doors for them. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked with a flourish.

It truly was spectacular. Flowers of every color—pink, green, blue, red, yellow, white, and a million others—spilled out of planters across the entire interior. Dirt paths led between them, and Corrin gaped as Elise led her down one of them. She lightly trailed her fingers along their petals, breathing in their sweet fragrance. "This is beautiful," she told Elise.

The girl led her deeper and deeper into the greenhouse, letting Corrin admire the scenery, but when they were so far inside that Corrin was sure she could not possibly have found her way out, she became very serious, her voice hushed and the most solemn Corrin had ever heard it. "Those Hoshidans … You didn't kill really them, did you?" she asked, startling Corrin.

"What makes you—?"

Elise cut her off. "I saw something. I'm not sure what you did, but it wasn't just a fire spell, was it? There was something else."

Corrin nodded slowly. "You have a keen eye, Elise."

Elise let out a relieved breath. "I thought so. Xander was right when he said you wouldn't do it," Elise insisted, "But it's not for the reasons he thinks. He thinks you're weak, like me, but it's not that. It's not that you're scared—it's that you're_ stronger_. You value life, and you don't take the easy way out."

"You're not weak," Corrin protested adamantly. "It takes a lot of strength to be a healer, Elise."

"A different kind of strength, maybe," Elise refuted. "But that's not the point."

"No…" she acknowledged. "I transported them somewhere safe." Elise hugged her in lieu of saying anything else, and they spent the rest of the day playing and admiring the flowers.

Of all the people who might have seen through her ruse with the Hoshidans, she perhaps should have suspected that Elise, with her empathetic nature and her talent for magic, would have been one of them.

* * *

_That night, Corrin dreamed of the past. She was not yet two years old, toddling around in a carpeted room on her stubby little legs. A deep voice laughed fondly, and the man's words rumbled when he spoke. "Little one, if you keep going at those speeds, you'll wear yourself out before lunch!"_

_"Wunch?" Corrin repeated, her young lips struggling to form the word correctly._

_"Not yet, dear one," the man replied, and Corrin stopped her running to gaze at him with wide red eyes. He was tall, taller than a mountain to her short height, and broad, though that might have been due to the many layers of cloth he wore, each one seeming to serve a different purpose. A crown sat atop his long, brown hair._

_"Sumeragi!" another, higher voice shouted, and Corrin recognized it immediately._

_"Mama!" she cried joyfully._

_Her mother scooped her up quickly, turning to the man. "Sumeragi!" she repeated. "We're under attack!"_

_The man's expression hardened, and he swiftly fastened a sheathed blade to his side. "Who dares?" he demanded._

_"Ninja, of indeterminate number. Their shuriken are of Mokushan make."_

_"Are the other children safe?" the man asked._

_"I can't be certain," her mother said, worry in her voice as she held Corrin tightly to her chest. Corrin kept quiet, sensing the dangerous atmosphere, and settled docilely in her mother's arms, resting her eyes on the pretty crimson stain blotting the front of her mother's dress. "I was with Orochi when the ninja struck. The children should have been at lessons, save little Takumi, who was with Ikona."_

_"_Chikushou_!" the man swore violently. "I'll find them," he promised. "Take Corrin somewhere safe."_

_"Be careful, Sumeragi," her mother replied, breaking into a run as shouts sounded in the hall. The man rushed towards the noises of combat, but Corrin's mother fled from them, humming a calming tune under her breath. Corrin found it soothing amid the chaos._

_Her mother ran and ran, down hallways and through rooms that all blended together in Corrin's eyes, until eventually her mother stopped, her entire body tensing. There was a scary man garbed all in black, lurking in the room they had just entered. He spoke not a word, merely flung tiny stars from his hands that Corrin could barely see. Her mother twisted, moving them both out of the way so fast that Corrin was left nauseated. Corrin was shifted into one arm, and a dagger flashed in her mother's free hand. Suddenly, there was a gurgling sound, and the man crumpled to the floor._

_The last thing Corrin heard before she woke was her mother's soothing voice instructing her to close her eyes._

Considering he had been perfectly content to ignore her for the first 19 years of her life, she was certainly seeing a great deal of Niles lately. He cornered her in the deepest, darkest—or so it seemed—depths of Castle Krakenburg, just after she had glumly given herself up for lost. She had been aiming for the training area Xander used, in an attempt to keep in practice. It was more vital than ever that she be able to defend herself. Her dragon form stayed fit in her dreams, but she could hardly transform to help herself in a fight. Not yet.

"Princess Corrin," Niles said, his voice oozing discontent. "What a coincidence to see you here."

Corrin snorted lightly. "This obnoxiously deep into the castle? I doubt this is coincidence. Why did you seek me out, Niles?" Something awful occurred to her, and she paled. Attempting a casual tone to her voice, she nervously tapped her fingers against her other forearm. "No trouble has befallen Leo, has it?"

Niles gaze sharpened, and something like anger flickered in his expression. "Milord did not send me. In fact, he has been much too… overcome … to order me about at all."

She raised her eyebrows. "Overcome?"

Niles let out a sharp breath. "Something troubles him, and I can only assume the cause is you. Such a _bothersome_ sister you are."

Corrin blinked. Now that she thought to look for it, Niles's entire demeanor seemed to _breathe_ his resentment towards her. Where he had been at least semi-tolerant of her before, he now seemed furious. "Niles," she began slowly. "What exactly is Leo doing?"

"_Brooding_," Niles lamented. "One hour, Milord will seem almost _pleased_, smiling at nothing, then the next—_heartbroken_. What did you _do_ to him?" He stepped closer to Corrin, and a lesser woman might have found herself threatened. Corrin simply worried for Leo, though frankly, she understood his actions.

"I…" she struggled to put this in words Niles would understand but no one else would. There was no sense in lying to him. It would not serve her, and it would only brand her as untrustworthy if Leo decided to confide in his retainer. "I confessed something to him that I had been struggling with for some time, and the resulting situation was upsetting for the both of us."

Niles's eyebrows shot up, and some of the anger leached from his expression. "He knows of your inclinations?" A slow smile spread across his face. "Why, that's _wonderful_! Milord can stop pining, and the two of you—"

Corrin blinked in disbelief. "Are you _crazy_?" she hissed. "The king would have us both beheaded!"

Niles rolled his one visible eye. "Well, I wasn't suggesting you _tell_ him, dear Lady Corrin. You _are_ practiced enough at _misleading_ the right people." And just like that, some of that anger made a resurgence. "And to be _utterly clear_, if you wished to maintain the facade, it would have best served you to confess when the two of you were peacefully situated at that drafty fortress, far, far from the king's influence."

Guiltily, Corrin acknowledged the truth in that. "I slipped," she admitted, despite suspecting it would fuel his anger more. He had a right to it. She had treated Leo abominably. "I hadn't meant to say anything at all."

"Ah, the icy exterior cracks. Dare I hope milord will finally see the cold calculation behind your nearly every action?" Disgust was clear in his tone.

Corrin blinked. This retainer truly did see far more of her than she was comfortable with. Corrin knew, implicitly well, that as good as she tried to be, as much as she loved her friends and family and Leo, knowing the things that she did because of her dreams had inevitably led to her developing something of a manipulative nature. "I get the sense that you don't like me, Niles."

"Nothing of the sort, Princess," he replied blithely. "Do not take that for a condemnation. That sort of talent can only be a boon in such high stakes games as we play, and intelligence is a _requisite_ for any woman that would ever be good for milord. I think you two will fit together nicely. But only _after_ you stop _lying_ to milord." Corrin gasped softly. The rage was quite clear in him now. He laughed caustically. "You don't even deny it."

Corrin shrugged helplessly. "I don't take pleasure in it, Niles. Every day, I wish I could confide in him. But this world…"

"Don't _dare_ try to justify it!" he cut in, crossing his arms over his chest. "If only milord would _stop letting himself be deceived_. But when it comes from his _precious princess_, he finds any lie is worth swallowing."

Corrin was silent for some seconds, a myriad of emotions flitting through her as Niles loomed over her, one dark eye glaring through his unkempt white hair. Eventually, she sighed, shoulders drooping. "Leo is lucky to have someone like you watching out for him, Niles. Someone who cares so much. And you're right. He deserves better from me."

Niles huffed a laugh. "He's not the fortunate one in our relationship, Lady Corrin. Nor is he in yours."

Corrin shook her head, agreeing. "I know. One day, the two of us might even deserve his loyalty.

* * *

_"Corrin, my baby…" Mother's voice cried, an agony Corrin could not begin to imagine suffusing her voice. "My poor baby, gone."_

_Fading into the dream, Corrin placed an arm on her mother's shoulder where the woman knelt in Corrin's empty childhood room, weeping over a portrait she had drawn as a toddler. "I'm here, Mother. I'm here."_

_Mother spun around suddenly, shooting to her feet to gather Corrin into a desperate embrace. "My baby"…"_

_"I'm here, Mother," she repeated softly._

_"Is this real?" Mother asked, breaking Corrin's heart._

_"As real as it can be, in dreams," Corrin answered softly. "You know that. But for now, it's all we have."_

_Mother nodded slowly. "Soon," she reassured herself._

_"Soon," Corrin agreed._

_Mother shook her head, smiling. "It's rare that I am blessed with a shared dre__am, my darling daughter. Orochi and I wander into each other's dreams every once in a while, but I confess I enjoy ours far more."_

_"I'm glad to see you, too, Mother." Corrin smiled, as well. "My dreams of late have been… Dark. Confusing."_

_Mother pulled her close again, pressing Corrin gently to her chest. "Don't despair, daughter."_

_"I won't," Corrin asserted. "I have a destiny to meet."_

_"As do I," Mother said softly. "Corrin, if something happens to me…"_

_"I know," Corrin murmured, blinking back tears. "We don't have much time. My dreams haven't told me how it will happen, but…"_

_"Soon," Mother said again, but this time it was foreboding rather than reassuring._

_"Soon," Corrin echoed._

_"Don't mourn for me, Corrin. I will go gladly when the time comes."_

_"Father said much the same thing," Corrin laughed brokenly. "I will miss you, still."_

_Mother combed her fingers through Corrin's hair. "Your father is still with you, then?" she asked, a wistfulness in her tone._

_"Yes," Corrin confirmed gently. "I know you loved King Sumeragi, but I still think you and Father are such a pair."_

_"We were," Mother admitted with a smile. "Yes, I loved Sumeragi—just as he loved Ikona, and Ikona and I loved each other. But I loved Anankos, too, Corrin. I don't regret any of my loves, even your father, as complicated as that situation became."_

_Corrin laughed. "'Became'? You fell in love with an amnesiac who turned out to be the fractured soul of a Divine Dragon cast out in human form. It was complicated from the beginning."_

_"Perhaps it was," Mother admitted. "It didn't seem that way. It was just… love."_

_Corrin smiled._

_Mother became serious. "When I'm gone, Corrin, I want you and Sumeragi's children to be there for one another."_

_"I'll try my best, Mother. I know you love them, and truthfully… I haven't seen them in person for so long, but I feel strongly for them, as well."_

_"I wish you could have met Sumeragi and Ikona," Mother said, smiling sadly. "They knew you as a child, of course, but I wish you could have spoken to them as the woman you are today. You would have loved them, I think, though not the same as I did."_

_"Gods forbid. My current situation is complicated enough as it is," Corrin lamented._

_Mother smiled. "We haven't spoken in so long," she said. "Do you mean to say you have found someone?"_

_Corrin shifted nervously, sinking to settle cross-legged on the ground. Mother followed her, though the queen sat on her knees in the Hoshidan fashion. Corrin idly wondered if she picked that up in her husband's country, or if the Vallite custom was the same. "Kind of." She ran a hand through her hair. "I… love him, but I know a relationship requires more. And… nothing about the situation we're in will give us the chance for romance."_

_"Is it one of the royals, then? I can see how that would be difficult, given everything." Mother asked._

_"Leo," she admitted._

_Mother nodded slowly. "He's the mage, isn't he? Not the crown prince, but the younger one."_

_Corrin twisted her fingers around the hem of her mother's dress. "Yes. I fear for him, around Garon. I don't know what my destiny has in store for me, but I know it will be dangerous, and he has… expressed that he will not stand idly by if I am threatened, even by his father."_

_Mother smiled. "That depth of loyalty is reassuring to me as a mother, I must admit, though I understand why it would cause you concern. I am relieved to hear that there is someone in Nohr looking out for you. Did he mean it as a man in love, or as a friend?" Her tone was curious._

_"The former," Corrin said with a blush._

_Mother smiled brightly. "Shall I tease you, my darling?"_

_Corrin's shy smile faded. "I would rather you not," she confessed. "I fear this love will only lead me—and him—to heartbreak. And he already struggles with it. I'm not sure he even knows that I am not truly his sister."_

_Mother frowned. "That's very unfortunate." She sighed. "For both your sakes, I hope he does."_

_"But why would he not have told me?" Corrin asked. "I can understand if he thought it would bring me anguish, before he knew my feelings. But now that he does, it would make everything easier for the both of us."_

_"You have not told him, either, child. Perhaps he has a reason for his silence, as you do."_

_"I can't imagine what it would be," Corrin mused. Mother gave the queenly equivalent of a shrug._

_Corrin changed the subject, flashing a victorious smirk. "I'm finally free of the fortress."_

_Smiling, Mother clasped her hands. "Such news is delightful to hear." Seeing the relief in her mother's face, Corrin decided not to mention that her escape had only brought her closer to the belly of the beast. "And how are the rest of the Nohrian siblings? And your retainers, too?"_

_"The same as ever," Corrin replied. "Elise is older and wiser, though no less sweet. Camilla dotes on me even more than before. Xander has become suspicious of me as we grow older, though. Leo says he worries that I will do something foolish."_

_"My daughter, a fool?" Mother laughed. "Never!"_

_Corrin smirked. "In his eyes, much of what I'm prepared to do is likely foolish."_

_Admitting the truth in that, Mother laughed again._

_"Flora has become more withdrawn and serious as the years go by," Corrin added. "I think her father is pushing her to finish her mission. Or perhaps her fury at Nohr has merely grown as she understands more," Corrin mused. Though she said nothing in response, the tilt of her head indicated that Mother was still listening. "Felicia is just as friendly with us, though. She and Jakob are as determined as they ever were to protect me and keep me company. They followed me when I left."_

_"And what of Lilith?" Mother asked. Despite not being her mother, the queen had a certain fondness for Corrin's half-sister. Perhaps it was her relation to Anankos, or perhaps she was simply grateful that Corrin had family there for her, growing up._

_"She's as glad as I am to leave the fortress. It feels as though we're one step closer to our destiny." Corrin thought for a second, then admitted, "She wants to meet you, though it seems unlikely to happen."_

_Mother's smile was radiant, and it brought out her beauty even more. "I'd love to make her acquaintance. Perhaps fate will make it possible."_

_They talked for what seemed like hours, Mother telling fond tales of her stepchildren. Hinoka, it seemed, had become a pegasus knight some years ago, as she had trained for. Ryoma was old enough now to have mostly taken over ruling the nation, although he focused more on the military side of things while Mother handled the domestic troubles. Takumi was becoming more and more bitter, scowling and biting back foul words each time Nohr's cruelty was alluded to. He used to be such a sweet soul, Mother lamented, and she feared that hatred was festering in him. She prayed he would not let it consume him._

("I hope you told him that," Corrin remarked wryly. "Many times," Mother sighed. "He merely placates me and changes the subject.")

_Sakura had begun training as a shrine maiden since she turned 14, and as Mother suspected, she took to the healing arts well. She clung to the spiritual aspect, too._

("I believe your loss left her with a bit of a hole in her life, and she seeks comfort in the divine." Privately, Corrin suspected Mother was very like her stepdaughter in that way.)

_Mother shared many anecdotes, and Corrin found herself laughing over their exploits. Some of the general information she had already known because of her dreams, but the way Mother spoke of them brought their personalities to life. She could hear the love in her mother's voice._

_"And what of Azura?" Corrin asked, remembering her most recent dream of her cousin. "How has she been?"_

_Mother's smile faded a little. "She has bouts of melancholy, even now. She loves Sumeragi's children, but she holds herself apart from them, alienated by her own secrets." Corrin suddenly found herself identifying keenly with this cousin she knew so little about. "It does not help that she and Takumi have been clashing as his distrust for all things Nohrian grows. He has let slip very harsh words in his pique. Meanwhile, she misses our home, misses her family."_

_Corrin could definitely relate to that. "Would I have liked it there?" she asked, suddenly a little desperate for knowledge of Valla, though she knew Mother could not offer her much, even in dreams._

_"Yes," Mother answered immediately. "Before … everything… it was warm, bustling with life. People are always flawed, no matter where they live, but the culture was vibrant, and mostly, the citizens were kind."_

_"It sounds lovely," Corrin said wistfully._

_"It was," Mother said softly. "You would have loved my sister, too. I wish with all my heart she could have met you, or even known you existed."_

_"What was she like?" Corrin asked, seeing how her mother's eyes lit up when she spoke of her._

_"Imperious," Mother answered with a laugh. "She was the boss of anyone, no matter their status, but if a friend or a loved one was struggling, she would bare her heart to comfort them. She sang and danced with breathtaking skill, and sometimes when I catch Azura practicing, I have to keep myself from crying because it's like my sister back from the dead. She loved plants, and she had the most amazing talent for growing things."_

_"I visited her greenhouses," Corrin let slip without thinking. "They were beautiful."_

_Mother paled rapidly, hands gripping hers. "In the palace? Corrin, you are in Garon's palace?"_

_Corrin winced. "Yes, although I don't believe it will be for long. He means to send me off, I suspect. To be used as a weapon against Hoshido."_

_Mother sighed as though the news that her daughter would be waging a war against her country was a relief to her. Given that the alternative was living under the same roof as an insane Garon, Corrin was forced to consider that it very well might be. "Be careful, my darling. Come back to me safe."_

_"I promise I will."_

Because of her dream, Corrin woke with far more confidence than she had known since she had begun her stay in Castle Krakenburg. A fact which proved fortunate when Felicia informed her nervously that King Garon had demanded her presence in the throne room.

After a quick lunch and Felicia hastily helping her don her formal clothes, Corrin made her way to the throne room, stopping only twice to ask directions from a servant. Elise met her outside the grand doors. "Father sent for me, too!" she explained without prompting. "The others are busy, and I think Father wants me to explain the situation to them after."

Corrin sighed, not surprised. Garon did not trust her at all and probably feared she would twist the situation if it were left to her to inform his children. She wondered if Elise realized the implications of his order, though. "I'm glad you're here," Corrin smiled at her. "Should we go in?"

"Mmm-hmmm!" Elise confirmed. "We shouldn't keep Father waiting!" With that, she knocked on the door and, upon being announced, dragged Corrin into the room with her, stopping once they reached the foot of the stairs to curtsy to the king. Corrin dipped into a bow beside her.

"Rise, my children," Garon said with a snort. As they stood back up, he cut to the chase. "I have decided how you will be of use to me for now, Corrin. I have something in mind for you; a mission. If you complete this task successfully, I will assign you an even greater one."

"What sort of mission, Father?" Corrin asked warily.

"There is an abandoned fortress perched on the Hoshidan border," Garon explained. "I wish to know if the building there remains serviceable. You are to travel to the site and inspect the premises. No battle will be required." Somehow, Corrin severely doubted that.

"Yes, Father," she agreed dutifully. "It shall be done."

He dismissed them shortly after that, and she and Elise spoke of little things until after lunch, when they sought out Elise's siblings, who should have been freed from their duties by that time.

After Corrin's mission was explained to them, Camilla, predictably, had some concerns. Taking Corrin's face in her hands, she asked, "Darling, are you sure you're going to be okay out there? I don't like this…" Her lips settled into a pouty moue.

"Of course!" Corrin reassured her. "Please don't worry. I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt your abilities, darling—it's just that those Hoshidans are _dangerous_."

"She won't be fighting, sister," Leo pointed out, though to Corrin it seemed his eyes betrayed his own worries.

"You're right, you're right," Camilla said, pulling back from Corrin. "Still, I should come along, just so I can be sure Corrin will be safe if something goes wrong."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," one of Garon's cronies said, slinking in from the shadows. Corrin did not know his name, but she had seen him in a few of her dreams, dealing with many of Garon's unpleasant tasks. Corrin blinked, not knowing he had the ability to do that. Any number of private conversations could have been overheard since she came to Castle Krakenburg. She nearly fell into panic as she considered the secrets she might have inadvertently revealed.

The others were clearly used to this, as Camilla mildly answered, "Whyever not, Iago?"

"Lady Camilla," Iago began, and the sound of her friend's name on his tongue made Corrin shudder in disgust. "King Garon intends this expedition as a test of sorts. As his top advisor—" Here, the man preened. "I have been entrusted with coordinating this mission. He would like to know whether Princess Corrin is worthy. She is part of the royal lineage, after all." Did Corrin detect sarcasm in that last sentence? "Therefore, your assistance would simply muddy the results."

"Understood," Corrin said sweetly. "Camilla, I need to do this myself. Surely you understand."

Iago cleared his throat. "Not all by yourself, of course. Your retainers may accompany you, and King Garon has instructed me to send Sir Gunter and Hans along with you. They are both veteran warriors and will assure no trouble befalls you." Across from her, Xander stiffened. Clearly, he knew something about either Gunter or Hans's presence, and it worried him.

"I am thankful," Corrin said. It was true, at least insofar as Gunter, Felicia, and Jakob were concerned, though she worried what might happen to anyone who followed her, as she was fairly sure this expedition would end with her being taken to Hoshido.

Iago excused himself after that, though of course Corrin could not be certain he was truly gone, not with the abilities it seemed he possessed.

"I'd be wary of Hans, if I were you, Corrin," Xander warned after a time.

Corrin blinked, struggling to place the name, but her efforts yielded no results. "Why do you say that?"

"He's a criminal," Xander said grimly. "A murderer and a scoundrel. I arrested him myself, years ago. Father seems to think he's rehabilitated, but I'm not so sure. That said, he is a formidable soldier."

Corrin suppressed a snort. In Garon's eyes, being a murderer and a scoundrel was probably a job requirement, not something to be rehabilitated. "I see."

"Oh no…" Elise said quietly, her brow furrowing. She darted in to hug Corrin. "Be safe, big sister."

"I will be," Corrin promised. "Don't worry about me." She tugged lightly on one of Elise's pigtails. "And I'll always be with you, even when I'm far away."

Elise giggled. "Like we were with you in that drafty fortress, huh?"

"Just like that," Corrin agreed.

* * *

Leo visited her rooms that night, shortly after Felicia left for her own bed. Corrin nearly burnt him with a Fire spell before she recognized just who it was breaking into her chambers. "Is this something we do, now? Sneak around in the dead of night?" she asked wryly. "Xander would be apoplectic if he caught you sneaking into my bedchamber."

Leo flushed, but retorted, "It's a good thing, then, that he won't catch me." His eyes trailed over her as he shut the door behind him, and he nearly went right back out when he saw she was wearing only a shift, her blue hair braided for the night. His hands clenched at his side, and he averted his eyes, coughing. "You're in your nightclothes."

She sat calmly on her bed with a low chuckle. "It's long past dark, Leo. What did you expect?"

Leo shook his head. "I—I wasn't thinking. I was simply hoping you were awake. I needed to speak with you before you left tomorrow, and Iago would likely be monitoring you during the day."

"One of you should have informed me that he could do that," she chastised, letting some of her fear slip into her voice. "I could have put us all in danger without knowing it."

"I should have," Leo admitted. "But the rest of us are so used to circumventing him that it hadn't occurred to me until this evening."

"Do you think he knows what we spoke about that day?" Corrin asked, knowing he would understand.

Leo shook his head, walking towards her so that they could speak in lower voices. "He shouldn't have. He was out of the palace that week."

Corrin let out a sigh of relief.

"I don't like this mission of yours," Leo said grimly. "All by yourself, with Hans accompanying you. A supposedly empty enemy fortress. That sword Father gifted you. It reeks of a trap."

"It likely is," Corrin agreed. "But I can handle myself, Leo, and I won't be taken by surprise, whatever the king's planning."

Leo nodded, but he didn't seem convinced. "I want you to take this," he said, his eyes finding their way back to her for the first time since he realized her state of undress. Even now, he kept them firmly fixed on her eyes. Stepping closer to her, he dropped a necklace into her hands, a dark purple stone dangling from the end of a thin chain. "It will allow us to speak with one another, if you only touch the stone and say this." He muttered a phrase in Arcane, and she parroted it back, committing it to memory. "So long as no other magic interferes with it, it should function across any distance."

"Thank you, Leo," she whispered, cupping it in her hands. "You have no idea how much of a comfort this will be to me."

Leo smiled wryly. "I might have an inkling."

She supposed he might.

"If it heats up, it means that I'm calling you myself," he informed her. "I would recommend you only use it in private. Some things are better left a secret."

Corrin smiled at the truth in his words. She pulled her braid to the side in order to clasp the chain around her neck. "It's beautiful, Leo," she said, not simply referring to the trinket's aesthetic.

"Yes," he agreed softly, his gaze resting on the place on her chest where the pendant fell. "It is."

"It's going to be a long night," Corrin sighed, knowing she would toss and turn from the stress of leaving everyone.

"Do you—" Leo cleared his throat. "I can stay for a little while, if you wouldn't mind." He took a step closer. "If you need company."

Corrin's eyes widened, and her heart beat a little faster. "By 'company'—"

"Not that," Leo immediately interjected, a tortured breath falling from his lips. "You know we can't. But… I can stay with you, for a few hours."

"Yes," Corrin breathed. "Please." She climbed farther back onto the bed, pulling the covers back over her and gesturing for him to join her. She feared she was overstepping—they had never shared a bed before, even as kids—but she wanted him close tonight. Hopefully, he felt the same.

With only a short period of hesitation, he crossed over to the side of the bed, settling under the covers beside her. The bed was large enough to fit them both comfortably, and at first, there remained a few inches of space between their bodies, but after a minute or so, Leo let out a soft, frustrated groan and rolled over onto his side, tugging her back, into his arms. She responded immediately, shifting her body against him so that they were spooning, his arm around her waist and her back flush against his chest, only the thin fabric of his shirt and her nightgown separating them. He buried his head in her neck, breathing out his words, "Is this alright?"

"Yes," she responded, just as quietly. In the stillness of her room, it seemed almost wrong to speak any louder. "I—" The words she wanted to speak just would not come out. "Don't fall asleep," she settled on, "Or we shall both find trouble in the morning."

Leo laughed softly. "Not to be blunt, Corrin, but there's little chance of that."

"What do you mean?" Corrin asked, confused.

In her ear, Leo murmured, "You're very close, Corrin." He briefly pressed her nearer against him, and for the split second before he returned them to their former position, she felt something hard at her back.

She blushed scarlet, and had to work to control her breathing. "You started this," she reminded him.

He laughed that soft, light laugh again, the one that lit up her soul and set her blood to rushing. "'If I must burn, let me burn gladly. Let me feel the heat of the flames on my body and know that I am alive,'" he quoted an old Nohrian epic poem, one she barely recognized.

"I don't think that's what he meant!" She laughed as she spoke.

"You don't think he spoke of love?" Leo asked teasingly. "Your experience has been very different, then, than mine, I fear."

She twined her arm around his where it rested at her waist. "I'm glad you take joy in it," she murmured. "From the way you reacted, I had feared…"

"I take my joy in you," he said, and his lips brushed her skin as he spoke the words. "Though I shouldn't."

Her braids must have tickled his skin as she shook her head, for she felt him twitch. "Why not? What about this is so wrong?" she demanded.

"It's not wrong," he said, surprising her. "But it's _dangerous_, Corrin. So dangerous."

"It shouldn't be," she said.

"In a perfect world," Leo agreed.

They stayed like that, silently clinging to each other, until Leo slipped out of her rooms before dawn.

Corrin did not get any sleep that night.

* * *

A/N: So... not much changed, despite Corrin's successful handling of the situation with the Hoshidan prisoners. I have no problem bending canon when it suits me, but in this case, I don't think Garon would have done anything differently, even if Corrin _hadn't _defied him in the beginning. He had a plan for her regardless. You can see little changes, however. For one, Corrin is dealing with things on her own, more so than in the games. She won't always have the solution to problems that arise-I'm trying to avoid making her hypercapable, even with her visions-but, especially at the beginning, when she's been imprisoned so long by hostile parties, she'll be keeping a lot of her own counsel. Leo is still involved, but you can see that she didn't confide in the rest of her "siblings". That relative lack of trust, particularly between her and Xander, _will _have consequences later on.


	5. Chapter 5

Enjoy the chapter! Also, classes start back very soon, and we're nearing the end of the chapters I have fully fleshed out, so updates will probably be even less frequent from here on out. Then again, I tend to write _more _when I'm stressed, so maybe I'll get the material out faster. Who knows?

I still don't own Fire Emblem.

**Visions of a Shattered Past**

**Chapter Five**

Felicia caught her in bed long after the sun had risen, wide awake, clinging to her blanket and taking in Leo's scent where it lingered on her pillow.

"My lady!" the maid exclaimed. "I thought you would be up by now!" she gasped, panicked. "Should I have come earlier to wake you?"

"No, Felicia, the fault is mine," Corrin assured her. "I should have risen earlier, but I tossed and turned all night, and…"

"I understand," Felicia said, eyes warm. "It's kinda scary, that we're going on a mission." She clapped her hands to her face. "I didn't sleep too well myself!"

Corrin smiled, sitting up. "At least we'll be together, right?"

"Right!" Felicia said, nodding firmly. "I'm as much a bodyguard as I am a domestic, after all. And to be honest, I was never that great at the domestic stuff, anyway."

"I wouldn't replace you with _anybody_," Corrin insisted.

Felicia blushed. "Thank you, my lady." She jumped suddenly. "Oh! We need to prepare for the trip! Jakob's fetching your breakfast from the kitchen, and then he'll be up here to pack your things. In the meantime, I'll help you get ready!" She gestured emphatically, and Corrin slipped out of bed, already feeling better about the trip. "Is that a new necklace?" Felicia asked suddenly. "It's gorgeous."

Corrin looked down and saw that the necklace Leo had given her was easily visible over her nightgown. "Yes," Corrin answered. "Leo gave it to me for luck."

Felicia clapped her hands together and beamed. "That's so sweet of him, my lady! I think it's lovely that you get to see that side of Prince Leo," her maid continued as she pulled out a set of well-made traveling clothes for Corrin to wear. "He's so closed-off to the staff, but to the people he cares about, it seems like he would do anything!"

Corrin smiled. "He really would…" Her eyebrows furrowed as Felicia's words sank in and a nasty suspicion took root. "Felicia… are you interested in Leo?"

Felicia gaped at her as if she had grown another limb. "Romantically, you mean? Of course not!" She shook her head as if warding off bad thoughts. "I mean no offense to the prince, my lady, but after the fifth or sixth time someone calls you a silly klutz, you take a hint."

"He called you a silly klutz?" Corrin asked, suddenly furious with him. She could not believe he _dared _talk to her friend like that.

Felicia blinked at her tone. "Oh, not meanly!" she insisted. "He's very nice about it, compared to most people, but he always tries to convince me that I would be better off as anything other than a maid, and I don't think I could ever be with a man who doesn't understand what I'm passionate about. Like I could never be with someone who hated you, my lady, because if he doesn't understand my devotion to you, he doesn't understand _me _at all_._" She said all this almost absentmindedly, and when she noticed Corrin's admiring grin, she blushed bright red and hurriedly added, "And of course he's a prince and I'm a maid and it would never be possible, anyway, and _besides,_ you and he are…" she trailed off, wincing as if she regretted opening her mouth at all.

"We're what?" Corrin asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice and her expression. Had Felicia noticed, as Niles had?

"Nothing, my lady," she responded quickly. "You're just very close, that's all."

Corrin cocked an eyebrow, but left the topic at that. If Iago was watching, as Leo had warmed, she really did not want to give anything away. "So how is Jakob handling the separation from Flora?" Corrin asked instead, curious for clues as to whether or not her butler returned Flora's esteem.

Felicia's grin turned wicked as she helped Corrin into her road leathers. "He's been a little quiet lately!" she crowed. "And of course, I hate to see him so down, but gods, this is _brilliant! _There's hope for my sister yet!"

Corrin laughed. "So you see it, too?"

Felicia tugged on Corrin's hair playfully as she gathered it in order to secure it away from her face. "Only people who don't _know _Flora at all would miss it. And Jakob, apparently," she added as an afterthought. Finishing with Corrin's hair, she patted her on the shoulders and ducked away to begin packing Corrin's bags. "Speaking of, where is he? He should be up with your breakfast by now."

After one last look at herself in the mirror, Corrin wandered over to help her. Felicia glared at her playfully, but let her assist.

Before long, the door opened to her chambers, revealing a gray-haired butler toting a breakfast tray. "Felicia!" Jakob reprimanded, appalled. "Milady should not be packing her _own _bags."

Felicia winced, but Corrin huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm only helping!" she defended.

Jakob glared at them as if to say, 'Semantics', but let it go in favor of ushering Corrin over to eat the food he had delivered. "My apologies for the delay, Lady Corrin. The kitchens were in disarray. It seems Arthur—Princess Elise's hapless retainer, you know—took it upon himself to prepare his liege's breakfast instead of leaving it to those more qualified." He made no attempt to hide his scowl.

Corrin winced, imagining the chaos. "With his luck, I can see how things might have gone awry."

"Quite," Jakob said, shuddering. "Oh, my lady, I fear it was even worse than it sounds."

Corrin pressed her lips together to conceal a smile, amused at her retainer's discomfort. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Jakob. Thank you for your sacrifice."

Jakob sniffed, eyeing her suspiciously. "It's always nice to be appreciated, my lady. Now, eat up," he ordered. "You'll need your strength for the road."

"It's a long way to the border!" Felicia chimed in.

"You've been there before, Felicia?" Corrin asked curiously as she sat to eat.

"Well, no," Felicia said, embarrassed. "But the knights talk, you know."

"I'm afraid Gunter is the only knight with whom I speak overmuch, and he's typically very tight-lipped when it comes to military matters," Corrin said absentmindedly.

"A trait he is unique in, when it comes to his comrades-in-arms, I'm afraid," Jakob noted, wandering over to join Felicia in gathering supplies for the journey. "There are many who consider their lives to have only begun when they first enlisted, and they take great satisfaction in boasting of their accomplishments."

Felicia hummed. "There are some knights who don't do that!" she insisted. "At least, they don't lord it over us for being servants. Though they _do _enjoy telling stories."

Jakob shot his fellow retainer a look that clearly implied she was missing something obvious. "They don't condescend to _you_ for it, perhaps. Many of them seek to impress you, Felicia, and they don't see it as a woman's obligation to serve Nohr in combat." Corrin frowned at the mention of the sexism rampant in Nohr's army. There _were _female warriors, especially mages and wyvern riders, but they were typically very specialized. Personal guards for nobility and the like. Not to mention, only the very best were allowed to join at all.

Felicia frowned. "Wha—? Why would they want to impress _me?"_

Jakob sighed as though weary of this subject already. "You cannot be this oblivious, surely. You are a kind, friendly, and beautiful young woman." He said this factually, without the slightest indication of romantic intentions. "Many of them plan to seek a wife one day."

Felicia's cheeks were tinged pink. "B-But I'm clumsy, and...and a total mess!"

Corrin's eyes narrowed, and she protested fiercely. "Felicia, everyone makes mistakes now and then. It doesn't make you a mess. You're a wonderful friend and an amazing person, and any knight in Nohr would be lucky to have you!"

Felicia blushed darker. "If you say so, my lady."

With her indignation further contributing to her nerves, Corrin did not participate in the conversation much after that.

They left Castle Krakenburg later that afternoon, Corrin bidding her siblings a very short goodbye at the gates. Lilith joined them, and Corrin was disappointed to hear that her half-sister would not be allowed to accompany them in an official capacity. The determined gleam in Lilith's eyes, however, made Corrin think she might not be staying behind, regardless of orders.

It took their party—consisting of Gunter, Hans, Jakob, Felicia, and Corrin herself—over a week of intense riding to reach the outskirts of Nohr. Some nights they stayed in a village, in rented rooms, but mostly they camped on the road.

Corrin watched Hans carefully over that time, but he conversed very rarely with the rest of them, and the most suspicious thing she caught him doing was devouring his meat with a little too much gusto. She hated to judge on appearances, but she could not deny that he was an intimidating man, and with his perpetual scowl, shaved head, blocky face, dull eyes, and thickly-scarred body, he certainly looked the part of a criminal and a scoundrel.

Her dreams in the meantime were mostly indistinct and unremembered upon waking, aside from one in which her father asked her to practice partial transformations the entire length of the dream. With Hans present, she only dared contact Leo once through his amulet, just to reassure him that she fared well.

The trip, on the whole, was interesting. The terrain was rather bare, as was typical of Nohr, but she enjoyed the wind in her hair, and Felicia and Jakob made sure to point out many new plants and animals the sheltered princess had never had the chance to encounter before.

Eventually, the sparse trees and foliage became rarer, and the party came across a great chasm that stretched before them. "Is this what I think it is?" Corrin asked gleefully. "The Bottomless Canyon?"

"Yes," Gunter answered, an indulgent twist to his mouth. "It's the natural boundary dividing Nohr and Hoshido."

Corrin peeked curiously over the neck of her chestnut bay. "It can't really be bottomless, can it?"

Gunter's expression turned grim. "Let the eternal darkness below be your answer. Those who fall in never return…" He scowled. "I truly despise this place. Something about the land around here just isn't right. The sky here is always ominous and foreboding, and lightning strikes all who fly across. This is clearly a place us mortals were never meant to enter. Normally, we'd go around… but the fort that King Garon wants surveyed is right over there." He shifted the reins over to his right hand in order to point with his left.

Even as Corrin followed his gesture to the fort in the distance, she contemplated his words. Strange that he was so put off by this area when she herself felt almost at ease here. Something about this place called to her, felt familiar. "Oh, it's not so bad," Corrin remarked lightly. "Or perhaps I'm just happy to be outside in the fresh air! Compared to the inside of that fortress, this is downright exciting."

Gunter chuckled. "That certainly puts things in perspective, milady. Come, let's proceed." He dug his knees into his horse's side, urging it into a gallop.

The rest of the party followed his lead onto the bridge before them. As they neared the keep, Corrin's brow furrowed more and more. The place was supposedly abandoned, right? So why was it in such… pristine condition?

When they drew close enough to spot the banners flying over the fort, Gunter pulled his horse to a halt and cursed loudly. "Blast!" he called as the rest slowed their horses to a stop. "It looks like this fort isn't as abandoned as we thought. Why the devil is this place crawling with Hoshidans?"

As they watched, a group of Hoshidans rode out to meet them, stopping some yards away. "Hold on!" one of them called. "Do not advance any farther, soldiers of Nohr."

Another added, "Crossing that bridge is a violation of our border treaty. Turn back at once, or we will be forced to attack!"

"Milady?" Gunter asked, turning to Corrin for instruction.

"We will do as you say," Corrin called to the Hoshidans. "We did not come here to fight. We were told this fort was empty."

The Hoshidans looked dubious, but made no move to fight. As Corrin prepared to turn around, Hans vaulted from his horse and charged forward, driving his axe through the skull of one of the samurai. He let out a horrifying chuckle as he did so.

Corrin cursed mentally. She should have prepared for something like this. "Hans! What are you doing? These are not our orders!"

"Not your orders, maybe!" he shouted, engaging with the rest of the Hoshidan party with a reckless abandon.

The second Hoshidan, the one who had mentioned a border treaty, called to his remaining comrades, voice tight with fury, "Soldiers of Hoshido, hear me! Leave not a single Nohrian alive!"

At her side, Gunter cursed, bringing out his spear. "Looks like there's no getting out of this now. Get ready to fight, Lady Corrin."

Corrin dropped to the ground, better accustomed to fighting on foot than on horseback. Jakob and Felicia dismounted at her side. The clanging of bells sounded. Someone must have been watching them from the fort and had now sounded the alarm. The five of them versus an entire fort; this would not be an easy battle.

* * *

As it turned out, they only fought a few more soldiers, not the entire keep. They were delivered from such a fate by, unexpectedly, all of the Nohrian royal children. Xander instructed Corrin, Gunter, and her retainers to retreat, offering to temporarily hold off any reinforcements. Uneasily, Corrin agreed, and Jakob and Felicia went ahead on horseback to scout out their route while Gunter and Corrin crossed the bridge behind them, Corrin leading her horse by the reins because the mare had caught a Hoshidan katana to the flank. Before they could reach the other side, they were cornered by Hans.

"What is the meaning of this?" Gunter demanded when Hans hefted his axe against them.

Corrin had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Gunter," she warned, moving away from her horse to reach a hand out towards him. The old knight seemed not to hear her.

Hans chuckled, creeping forward. "Less talk, more death," he quipped, then lunged, taking his axe to Gunter's mount's legs and, with a heave, knocking both rider and horse over the edge of the cliff, into the bottomless abyss below. Corrin heard the horse's pained screams as they plummeted.

_Gunter! _Furious, Corrin's blood rushed in her ears, and she thought of nothing save how she would make this _traitor _pay. She barely registered the transformation sweeping over her, her arm and ears morphing as water rushed around her body. Her voice was rough and metallic when she spoke. "You will _die _at my hand, you traitorous _wretch!_" In her bones, she sensed the truth of her words. His life would be hers to take.

"W-What? What kind of freak are you?" Hans shouted, horrified.

"I … want… _answers!" _she screamed, lashing out and striking him with all the might of a dragon. He skidded back several yards, landing on his leg. She heard an awful snap as the limb split in twain. "Why did you provoke the Hoshidans? Why did you kill Gunter?" In the back of her mind, something rang hollow. The words felt off, as though they were not quite the truth.

"J-Just following orders," Hans grunted, voice tight with pain as he cupped the shoulder she had impacted. "King Garon's orders."

Her temper flared, and she ran forward to strike him again, horns forming on her head as she let out a feral growl. Hans cringed backwards, but before she could reach him, she felt a sharp tug from her side, and she was being dragged backwards very quickly. Something impacted her back, knocking the breath out of her. Too late, she realized that it was the rope side of the bridge. Then she was falling backwards, accelerating as her transformation fell away. Rocks scraped lacerations down the soft parts of her body not protected by her armor, but thankfully she was pulled far enough out to avoid being impaled on the sides of the canyon.

Corrin had nearly blacked out from the pain of her wounds when she felt soft arms encircle her. Someone shouted in Arcane, and only long nights spent studying in the library with Leo allowed her to translate the words in her weakened state. "_My kin, my gods, my blood… Dragons grant me strength! Great Moro, I beseech you!"_

Another tug on her armor, and Corrin was no longer falling, simply floating in the air. "Lilith," Corrin croaked. "Is that you?"

"You're safe now, little sister," the voice said from above her. It was Lilith's voice, though deeper and more metallic than Corrin was used to. From the corner of her vision, she spotted pink and blue, and she realized Lilith must have changed forms.

Corrin choked out, "Your human form…"

"I won't be able to return to it," Lilith confirmed, not a hint of regret in her voice. "But the important thing is that you're safe."

As though in response to her words, the two of them suddenly dropped some feet, before stuttering to a halt again. Corrin's breath, once again, left her, and Lilith let out a startled squeal.

"I won't…" Corrin coughed violently. "I won't have you sacrifice yourself for me, Lilith."

Lilith ignored her words, calling out to the sky in Arcane. "_First Dragons, I call on you. Grant us access to the astral plane!" _There was a flash of light, and suddenly they were flying into it. It surged around them, and Corrin lost consciousness at last.

* * *

"_You're king now, Ryoma. You can't afford to hold a grudge, not when Hoshido is counting on you to do what's best for them." Corrin idly ran a hand over the carved wooden knickknacks arrayed across his dresser. There was one for every year since Corrin had been kidnapped. She smiled at the reminder of the Hoshidan royal family's love for her. _

"_I'm sure it will benefit all Hoshido when I find the fool a new residence. Do you think he would enjoy a shallow grave?" Ryoma grunted his displeasure. _

_Corrin snorted lightly. "Not in his top ten future homes, I'm certain. You can't start another war just because he's marrying your sister," she chastised. _

"_Don't remind me, little sister. I would prefer to ignore that fact as long as I can. Perhaps she will come to her senses and call the whole thing off—stay here at home."_

_Corrin laughed. "Not likely. She loves Hoshido, but I suspect she loves him more."_

"_And what will you do?" Ryoma asked seriously. "Where will you go, now that things are mostly settled?"_

"_I'm not sure," Corrin frowned, turning to face him. His expression gave no indication as to what he was thinking. "Wherever we go, we'll go together. And I'm sorry, Ryoma, but I doubt we'll stay in Hoshido. It's not his home, and as much as I love it here, it's not mine either. It doesn't need rebuilding, either. Not the way Nohr and… my realm… do."_

"_We will miss you greatly, whatever you decide," Ryoma said gravely. _

"_I know," Corrin smiled. "But I'll make sure to visit. I couldn't abandon any of you."_

_Ryoma's eyes crinkled at the tips as he smiled in answer. _

Corrin woke in agony. Lacerations stung up and down her body, and her back sported a few large, throbbing bruises. There were no broken bones that she could feel, but her ribs ached with every breath she took.

"Corrin!" Lilith's voice broke through her daze. "You're awake."

Corrin shook her head in response, groaning as that only made her nauseated. "Where are we?" she asked, taking in the sparse room around her. It was large, but it lacked much decoration besides a blue window frame and some wooden furniture. The floor, walls, ceiling, and bed frame were hardwood, as well, but the mattress she lay on was softer even than her bed in the Northern Fortress. It was a pity her wounds kept her from appreciating it fully.

"I took us to the astral plane," Lilith explained, hovering over the bed in her dragon form. "This is a world parallel to the one in which we live."

"Have you had this up your sleeve the whole time?" Corrin asked a little incredulously.

Lilith shook her head, and if she had to guess, Corrin would say her expression was a little sheepish. "The First Dragons have granted us the power to inhabit this dimension. Under their protection, we are safe here."

"Gunter!" Corrin remembered suddenly, his aged face haunting her. "He fell into the chasm!"

Lilith sighed gravely. "I'm afraid I arrived too late to save him, little sister."

"It's not your fault," Corrin reassured her, laying her head back against the pillow. "How long have we been here? The others must be worried by my absence."

Lilith settled on the bed beside her, curling up against her comfortingly. "You've been unconscious for a few days. I've been treating your wounds. But don't worry! The power of the First Dragons flows freely in this realm. Space and time operate differently here. When you go back, it should only have been moments since you left."

"Just me? Will you not follow?" Corrin asked.

Lilith shook her head. "In this form? I would only draw attention. I shall stay here. You may yet have need of this place, so I won't be alone for too long."

"Am I well enough to return?" Corrin asked, noticing the bandages covering her body. "I can't relax until I know everybody made it safely home."

Lilith thought for a moment. "You have the blood of the dragons, so your wounds should have healed faster here. You won't be able to fight your best," she warned. "You were very badly hurt. But so long as you're careful, you should be able to move around decently well."

Corrin nodded, swinging her feet over the side of the bed as she rose to a sitting position. Lilith relocated to the other side of the room, observing her progress carefully.

"When I open the portal," Lilith explained, "You'll return to the same location you came from. That means you'll arrive right on the Hoshidan border. There may be soldiers lying in wait for you."

"I'll be ready," Corrin vowed, strapping herself into her armor, which had been abandoned on a nearby table. It barely fit over the bandages and her clothes.

"Very well," Lilith said. "I'll open the portal for you."

After bidding her sister farewell, Corrin stepped through the portal into her own world.

* * *

"You're mine, Nohrian!" Corrin heard not long after emerging from the portal, and she spun to face the source of the noise, just in time to dodge an incoming club to the head.

"Whoa!" Corrin said, drawing Ganglari reluctantly. "Hold on!" She faced her attacker warily, unable to make out their features through the darkness of night.

"Give me a reason!" the attacker threatened.

Corrin blinked. That voice was familiar. As the figure moved closer, she recognized her white hair and tribal clothes. "Rinkah? What are you doing here?"

"How do you know my name, Nohrian?" Rinkah demanded.

"I asked for it, some weeks ago." Corrin lowered Ganglari, though she did not sheathe it. "In Castle Krakenburg. My name is Corrin."

"Ah…" Rinkah moved closer, looking her over. "You aren't in very good shape, Princess, but it is you."

Corrin smiled sheepishly. "I nearly fell down a canyon."

Rinkah's eyes widened. "Gods, that would have been a bear to explain to the royal family." Not willing to give anything away, Corrin remained silent.

"I have some questions for you, Princess."

"Ask away," Corrin told her politely.

"Why did you let us go?" Rinkah asked immediately. "It was naïve and foolish, to spare an enemy."

"I guess I just don't see you as my enemy," Corrin said truthfully.

Rinkah scowled. "So long as you fight for Nohr…"

"I don't fight for Nohr," Corrin refuted. "I fight for peace, whatever that requires."

Rinkah scoffed. "You're a fool and a hypocrite. But you're coming with me."

"Very well," Corrin said, sheathing her sword.

Rinkah's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Like you said," Corrin answered mildly. "I'm in no condition to fight. I can tell you're a capable warrior. Besides, I have no idea how to return to Nohr, and there's a decent chance I'd be executed for my failure if I did."

Rinkah circled around her, tearing a strip from her top and using it to secure Corrin's wrists. "Try anything, and you won't like what happens."

Corrin nodded, walking sedately as Rinkah shoved her forward.

In her injured state, it was a lengthy walk to the nearest town. Upon their arrival, Rinkah secured a hut for them to sleep in for the night. When Corrin asked, she was informed that it was a Flame Tribe village located in Hoshidan territory.

Tired from the exertion, Corrin fell into a rough slumber on the floor of the cabin.

* * *

"_Corrin!" The high, squeaky voice grated on Corrin's young ears, but she smiled anyway. Hinoka was her friend, even if she could be annoying sometimes. "Look at this!"_

"_What is it? What is it?" Corrin chirped, rising from her crouch and brushing the dirt off her knees. "Where are you, Hinoka?"_

"_Over here!" the older girl called, sitting by the small pond several yards away. "I found a little baby turtle."_

_Corrin gasped, excitement prompting her into a run. "Don't move so fast," Hinoka chided, hands fluttering wildly. "You'll scare it!"_

_Corrin giggled, skidding to a halt and peering over Hinoka's shoulder at the small turtle. "Well, it's not like it's going to run away!"_

_Hinoka rolled her eyes. "Look at its back. Isn't that a neat design?" Its skin was leathery black, but the shell sported shades of brown and yellow, layered like striations in rock formations. _

"_Mmm-hmm!" Corrin agreed, stretching her hand out but not quite putting it within reach of the turtle. "Do you think it bites?" she asked, tiny fangs flashing as she smirked. _

_Hinoka laughed. "You're so strange, Corrin. Why do I get the feeling you want it to?"_

"_I don't know!" Corrin said idly. "It just seems like all reptiles should have a bite."_

Impossibly, Corrin felt even sorer the next day. But Rinkah was a harsh taskmaster and had them both up and moving before the sun had even edged over the horizon. They traveled for another two days before coming to the foot of a snowy mountain. "I'm handing you over to the Hoshidan authorities," Rinkah explained without prompting. "He should be here any minute."

As per her words, they were not waiting long before a man appeared from the snow. Corrin somehow missed the exact moment of his arrival, the man blending into the icy landscape despite his bright green hair and his black clothes.

"We meet again," Corrin quipped, concealing her smile for fear it would worry the Hoshidans. "Kaze, right?"

"Yes," Kaze answered shortly. "I'm glad we found you, Princess Corrin." He kneeled before her, snow crunching beneath him. Corrin found herself surprised, though perhaps she should not have been.

"Oh," Corrin said awkwardly, for lack of anything better.

Beside her, Rinkah rolled her eyes. "Let's just get this show on the road, ninja."

Kaze rose, gesturing for them to follow. "Where exactly are you taking me now?" Corrin asked, though she was fairly certain she knew the answer.

"To the capital," Kaze answered. "All will be explained there."

* * *

Progress was slow and intermittent, given that Kaze, once informed of her wounds, insisted on breaking every so often to allow her to recuperate. She was mostly healed, however, by the time they reached the capital. As if influenced by the Hoshidan air, most of her dreams in the meantime were memories of her early childhood, before she was taken. In that spirit, though she missed her Nohrian family some, Corrin was increasingly anticipating reuniting with the Hoshidan royals, and especially her mother.

The capital itself was beautiful, and her years of dreams had not quite prepared her for how _open _it was. There were people everywhere, going about their daily lives with radiant smiles on their faces. The lush greenery and bright colors of market stalls were a sight for very sore eyes, and Corrin walked with renewed spirit, energized by the almost soothing wash of voices. Corrin had not realized until this moment exactly how deprived she had been all those years in the Northern Fortress.

Rinkah did not allow her to linger on the details, however. The bindings had long since been removed from her wrists, but the Flame Tribe woman kept a careful eye trained on her, clearly on the lookout for the slightest hint of rebellion. Corrin tried her best to seem harmless, but she suspected she failed. Dragons were not naturally unassuming, and she was no exception.

Before she knew it, they were in Castle Shirasagi, ushered into the throne room, and a messenger had been sent to fetch Prince Ryoma and Queen Mikoto.

Ryoma was the first to arrive, and Corrin had to bite her tongue to keep from greeting him. Despite her best efforts, she could not keep the radiant smile off her face. Kaze's attention was focused on his prince, but Rinkah stared at her as though she were the strangest creature she had ever encountered.

"Welcome back, Kaze," Ryoma said, addressing the ninja kneeling before him. "Good work."

_Is he ever going to look at me?_ Corrin thought, biting back childish dismay.

"Thank you, Lord Ryoma," Kaze said gravely, standing.

"Hmm." Ryoma finally set his gaze on her, but he said nothing, merely looking her over.

Before her nerves drove her to blurt out something foolish, a side chamber door opened, and the queen hurried into the room. "Mother!" Corrin shouted, racing across the room to tackle her into a hug.

Mother embraced her without hesitation, and Corrin heard a choked exclamation that she suspected came from Rinkah. Corrin, wrapped up in her mother's arms for the first time in over 15 years, could not bring herself to care that she had just stunned everyone in the throne room.

"I cannot believe it is really you…" Mother said, and Corrin could feel her shaking.

"I'm here, Mother…" she assured her, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, I've missed you so much, my sweet child!" Mother cried, a catch in her voice.

"I don't understand," Ryoma said, his voice subdued, as though he were hesitant to interrupt their reunion. "Rinkah, Kaze, and Miharu informed us that you seemed to remember nothing of your childhood in Hoshido, that you called the king Father. How is it that you recognize Queen Mikoto?"

Mother pulled back so that she could look into Corrin's eyes, her arms still resting lightly around her daughter's sides. "Corrin…?" There was a question in her stance. _Will you tell them?_

Corrin nodded after a moment's thought.

Mother smiled. "Ryoma, did you know that the gift of foresight, when it is not a learned trait but a talent possessed from birth, often runs in families?"

Ryoma blinked. "Ah. You mean to say Corrin also has visions of the future?"

"And the past," Corrin confirmed. "King Garon took my memories from me, it's true, but I have dreamed of Hoshido all my life. It's nice to see you again, Ryoma," she said with a smile in his direction.

He smiled in response, a little shyly. "And you, Corrin."

"Is that why you saved us?" Rinkah blurted. "You knew you were Hoshidan the entire time?"

"I told you—I fight for peace," Corrin answered her. "And if saving people means I can play King Garon for a fool, all the better."

Mother looked at her sharply, and Corrin winced. She must have let a little too much of her fury slip into her voice. "I meant to speak to you about that," Mother said, her voice deceptively sweet. "I cannot _believe_ you would do something so reckless."

Corrin grinned cheekily, and her mother sighed. "I suppose I can believe it, actually, but … please, Corrin. Be more careful."

Corrin hugged her mother again. "Always."

The door to the throne room banged open, and a winded samurai fell to his knees before Ryoma, speaking urgently between breaths. "Lord Ryoma! I have… an urgent message. We're… under attack… in the north."

"Gods," Ryoma said worriedly. "Hinoka and Sakura are in that area right now!"

Mother stiffened in Corrin's arms. "They'll need help at once."

The samurai jolted as if he only just noticed the queen was present, as well. "Yes, Your Majesty! I've been told that they're working to help to evacuate the villagers," he informed them both.

"Very well," Ryoma acknowledged. "We'll need to provide support, as you said, my lady."

If this had not been a serious situation, Corrin sensed her mother would have rolled her eyes. Apparently she did not take well to being called 'my lady' by someone she saw as a son.

"Corrin," Ryoma addressed her. "Will you come with me? Rumor is you're a fierce warrior, and our sisters could use the support."

_Our sisters. _Did he see her as part of the family already? She had thought from his reticence that he was wary of her, but perhaps it was as Xander had been—careful around an unpredictable element, but loving all the same.

Corrin smiled. "I'd love to see Hinoka and Sakura again, as well," she said. "Mother," she soothed as she drew away from the queen, a message in her eyes. _I'm sorry, but I must. _

Though disappointed that she would be separated from her daughter again so soon after reuniting, Mother emanated understanding. "Your destiny awaits you, my sweet daughter."

Corrin grinned, showing a hint of fang and tucking her hair behind her pointed ears in a way that she hoped reminded her of her father. "Goodbye, Mother."

"Hurry back with your sisters," she replied, a smile blooming on her face.

"I will," Corrin said. With a look to Ryoma, whose expression displayed more fondness than she would have expected, she grinned. "I'm ready. But first, does someone have a sword I can borrow?"

* * *

Having switched Ganglari around to her right hip—after explaining that it was a gift from Garon and not to be trusted to defend her in a fight or to be left alone at the capital—she hovered a hand over the sheath on her left, the one containing a common, though well-made, steel sword that the Hoshidans had confiscated from Nohrian prisoners. Fighting with a scabbard at both hips was a little difficult to get used to, but her natural balance quickly corrected the deficiency.

Kaze and Rinkah had opted to come along to protect the two of them, as Ryoma's retainers were otherwise occupied. Corrin missed Jakob and Felicia keenly, but she conversed with Kaze while they traveled and found that she liked him. Rinkah and her occasional snide remarks were beginning to grow on her, as well.

"So how did you just appear like that when you met us in the mountains?" Corrin asked him curiously.

Kaze smiled mysteriously, and Rinkah scoffed, "He's a ninja."

"Is it a ninja talent to hide in the snow?" Corrin asked, hiding her smirk when Kaze's smile froze on his face.

Rinkah laughed, a little shocked. "She has you there, ninja."

Kaze sighed. "We are where we need to be, milady."

At first she thought he was still referring to ninja, but when she took a cautious look around, she realized he simply meant they had arrived at their destination. On the outskirts of a small village, it seemed, but in the distance, she could see giant green shapes standing out against the snow.

"Take a look around, Corrin," Ryoma said, slowing to a stop before them, turning his head to look at her when they followed his lead. "This is a treacherous region for battle. Kaze, if you could scout ahead…"

Kaze nodded seriously. "Yes, milord." And then he vanished. Corrin was left blinking and befuddled.

Rinkah's gaze was caught on the village. She must have spotted movement, for she called, "That village! Not everyone has been evacuated yet. We should warn them to stay out of harm's way!" She took off running, and Ryoma sighed.

"Never expect a Flame Tribe warrior to ignore their instincts, Corrin, or you'll find yourself in a bind," the prince warned, then muttered under his breath about headstrong women and how they'd be the death of him.

Corrin grinned cheekily. "Noted." One of the green giants suddenly turned, and Corrin realized, startled, that it bore some uncanny resemblance to a man. "Gods," she breathed. "What _are _those things?"

"They're known as the Faceless," Ryoma replies grimly. "Creatures with no will of their own, created by Nohrian mages."

Corrin remembered vaguely coming across a mention of 'puppet golems' from her research with Leo, and struggled to remember more about them. _Formed from mud and magic, a practitioner of even moderate skill may attempt these spells, but it is inadvisable for someone with little experience binding automatons to one's will, as these creations very easily turn against their masters and they are not easily disposed of through magic, being especially deadly for someone whose main combat skills lie in the arcane. _

Thankfully, Corrin was more than a mage. She considered fighting in her dragon form, finally having the freedom to choose so long as she remained out of reach of Garon, but she dismissed the possibility quickly. It would be unwise to spring her heritage upon the Hoshidans without some sort of explanation, as they might attack _her _as well as the Faceless. A sword would have to do, then.

Kaze appeared before them suddenly, and Corrin yelped. Ryoma sent her an amused glance, but quickly prompted the ninja, "What is your report?"

"There are about twenty or so, and they mostly mill around, but all of them seem to be heading towards a spot in the northwest. I suspect the princesses are holed up there, in the cover of some hills." Ryoma nodded thoughtfully, and Corrin nudged him, pointing to Rinkah headed their way from the village.

"Good work, Kaze," Ryoma praised, nodding to Corrin to acknowledge that he saw their companion's approach. "When our fourth member catches up to us, we'll head that way."

When Rinkah rejoined the party, not even short of breath despite the speed at which she had been sprinting, Ryoma explained the situation to her, and they all began moving northwest, skirting around a hill in their way. There were many more hills surrounding them, and Corrin despaired how long it would take them to make their way around each. Something in her blood stirred as they reached the foot of the hill, and her head tilted up as she took a deep breath. "Do you feel that?" she asked Ryoma urgently.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"There's something in the air," she explained as he concentrated on his senses. "Feels like…"

"A dragon vein," he finished as they neared the source of it. "Good work, sister."

He paused to wave his hand, incanting an Arcane command. Corrin relished the sensation of draconic power flowing around them and enjoyed Rinkah and Kaze's awe as the snowy hill flattened. "Our progress should be faster now," Corrin noted. "Let's hope there's more where that came from. There are lots of hills here."

Ryoma chuckled, setting off once more. "Indeed, little sister."

Before they could reach the base of the next mound, one of the creatures lumbered towards them. "Any advice?" Corrin called to her companions as she drew her steel sword.

"Aim for the soft spots: neck, heart. Avoid the face—it's armored," Kaze answered, shuriken flying as he moved swiftly around the Faceless to catch it from behind.

"And watch out for the fists!" Rinkah warned, her spiked club swinging towards the creature's chest, fire spouting from the end.

"Understood!" Corrin called, sizing up the monster. Up close, it was intimidating. Nine feet if it was an inch, with a metal mask covering its entire face. A metal belt girded its loins, saving Corrin from the answer to a question she would prefer not to ask. Heavy cuffs encircled its wrists, and it took advantage of that fact by swinging the attached chains towards Rinkah, catching her in the abdomen. The Flame Tribe woman cursed, curling around the injury but fighting even more fiercely in response.

Corrin quickly joined her, leaping to swing her sword at its neck. It hit true, cutting through sickly green flesh, and Rinkah whooped. "Nice one, Princess!"

"Thanks!" Corrin laughed, fangs flashing as she landed in a crouch, lunging at its chest but finding her sword blocked by a swipe of its arm. It still took damage, but the cut was not nearly so effective on its forearm.

Suddenly, lightning struck the creature's metal mask, sending a jolt through its entire body. It dropped to its knees, and Rinkah and Corrin took the opportunity to close in on the Faceless. "How did that work?" Corrin demanded, not sure whence the lightning had originated but assuming Ryoma had joined the fight. "They're resistant to magic!"

"How do you know that if you don't know how to fight them?" Rinkah asked.

"I read it in a book! Raised in Nohr, remember?" Corrin said, driving her sword into the creature where she assumed its heart would be. It crumpled to the ground, unmoving, and she stepped closer cautiously. "Is it dead?" she asked dubiously.

"It's finished," Ryoma confirmed, stepping into her view as he sheathed his katana. "As for your question, Raijinto isn't your normal magic—it's a divine weapon, gifted to the Hoshidan royal family long ago."

"That's the name of your sword?" Corrin asked curiously as the Faceless dissolved before their eyes, the way magic constructs tended to when killed. "Raijinto?"

"Yes," Ryoma said, and they began moving again.

The fights after that played out much the same as the first, and by the time they rounded the last hill, refraining from activating its dragon vein for fear of depriving the princesses of their cover, Corrin had fallen into a familiar pattern combating the creatures.

She sighted the princesses first, making out a familiar head of red hair and breaking into a sprint. A pegasus rider was jabbing at an attacking Faceless with her lance, and Corrin left her party behind to assist, managing a lucky strike that pierced the Faceless's heart. A pink-haired shrine maiden lingered a few yards away, her staff at the ready. Close enough she would not be undefended, but far enough she would not be swept into the combat.

"Are you two alright?" Corrin asked Hinoka. "We're here to help." She glanced back to where she had left the others and distinctly saw Kaze and Ryoma harassing another Faceless.

"Yeah, we're fine. It takes more than a few dozen 800-pound monsters to bring me down!" Hinoka said, landing her pegasus but not dismounting. "Who are you?" she asked, looking Corrin over. "I thought I knew most of my brother's troops."

She fought off dozens of these creatures alone? Impressed, Corrin quickly re-evaluated her view of Hinoka. She must be an _excellent _fighter. "Dozens? And here _I _was feeling confident, having felled a few. That's _inspirational_."

Hinoka laughed. "Thanks for the ego boost, I guess. Years of practice. So, what's your name, soldier?"

Corrin smirked. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. It's Corrin."

She suppressed a smile when Hinoka nearly fell off her pegasus, sputtering. "C-Corrin? How—"

Corrin quickly interrupted. "Incoming Faceless!" All conversation ceased as they were forced into another fight, this time with two of the giants at once, one of them much larger and tougher than any Corrin had seen so far. Thankfully, just as they began to experience difficulties, they were joined by the rest of Corrin's party, and the battle was relatively easy after that.

"That's the last of them, it seems," Ryoma said, sheathing Raijinto. The rest of them stowed their weapons, as well.

Sakura joined them. "I-Is anyone hurt? I can heal you."

There was a chorus of 'no's', but Kaze's gaze fixed on Corrin. "Milady, your neck wound seems to have reopened in the chaos."

Now that the adrenaline was fading, she realized he was right. She could feel the blood trickling over her skin. "I think you're right, Kaze. The cuts on my arm are throbbing, as well. If you wouldn't mind…?" she addressed Sakura.

"N-Not at all!" Sakura said, crossing the snow to examine Corrin, not so much as wincing at the blood. With a wave of Sakura's festal, Corrin immediately felt better. She briefly felt homesick, reminded greatly of Elise and her soothing magic.

"Thank you," she sighed.

"Thank _you_," Sakura countered. "Those monsters would have caused more damage if you hadn't come. I have to ask, though… Who are you?"

Corrin smiled fondly at her. "Oh, sorry. My name is—"

"Corrin," Hinoka cut in, her voice cracking the same way it did when they were very young and she was overcome with emotion. "Her name is Corrin," she repeated, sliding from her pegasus and staggering over to Corrin and Sakura. The youngest princess gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

Corrin smiled at them both. "Nice to see you both."

Hinoka lurched forward, sobs wracking her body as she pressed herself tightly against Corrin, burying her face in Corrin's chest. The armor could not have been comfortable, but the crying woman seemed not to care.

"Hinoka?" Sakura asked worriedly, though the others did not seem surprised by her reaction.

"Finally…" Hinoka choked out as Corrin wrapped her arms around her. "After all these years… I've missed you so much…" She mumbled an apology for the tears, but she made no move to back away.

Ryoma explained to Sakura, "Hinoka was so attached to Corrin when they were little. Don't you remember? She cried for months when Corrin was taken from us. One day, she stopped crying and picked up the naginata. She vowed to bring her back to us one day. And now here she is."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Is this really Corrin?" she asked, hope suffusing her voice.

"Yes," Ryoma said sympathetically. "It's momentous news, I know. When we heard she was found… You can imagine our shock."

Corrin was more focused on the crying pegasus knight in her arms. "It's alright, big sister. I'm here."

Hinoka sniffed, drawing back and wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually this emotional."

Corrin laughed at her, though not meanly. "That's not how I remember it," she teased.

Hinoka barked a startled laugh, and Ryoma chuckled from where he stood. "Of course you remember that," she lamented. "Well, I've gotten better over the years. I'm just… so happy to have you back." She smiled broadly, shaking her fist and yelling at the sky. "Take that, Nohrian scumbags! We win, you lose!"

Corrin held back her frown, knowing Hinoka had ample reason to feel the way she did. Still, she hoped that the two nations would one day get along.

Sakura approached her hesitantly. "Big sister?"

"Hey there, Sakura," Corrin greeted gently. "You were so little the last time I saw you." Not technically true, if one counted her dreams, but in a sense, it was.

"I b-barely remember," Sakura said, seeming ashamed.

"That's okay," Corrin assured her. "Garon's mages took my memories, I'm afraid, so I only remember because of my visions."

"They did what?" Hinoka demanded. "Those monsters!"

"You have visions?" Sakura asked curiously. "Like Mother?"

Corrin blinked, dismayed by the reminder that since Sakura was so young, she likely did not remember Queen Ikona, either. Mikoto was probably the only mother she had ever known, and she was soon to be taken from them, as well. "Yes," Corrin said. "When the gift is particularly powerful, it tends to run in families."

Her step-siblings looked thoughtful, but Kaze cleared his throat lightly. "My apologies for the interruption, but perhaps we should take this conversation elsewhere. It's been a long battle, and we need to reassure the village that the danger has passed."

Ryoma nodded. "Yes, you speak truly, Kaze. Queen Mikoto will be expecting us to return soon, as well. Everybody, let's move out."

The trip back to the village felt much shorter as Hinoka and Corrin caught up with one another, Sakura sticking close the entire time, listening quietly to their conversation. Both her stepsisters sported disbelieving expressions.

After Ryoma spoke to the village leader, they headed back to the capital. Partway through the journey, during a lull in the conversation, something occurred to Corrin. "Why were there only Faceless? They don't follow orders very well. Why not send soldiers, or at least mages to help manage the creatures?"

"Because they're the only thing Nohr can throw at us right now," Hinoka explained. "Mother maintains a magical barrier surrounding the kingdom. Regular enemy soldiers find themselves without the will to fight upon crossing it. So long as Mother is able to keep the barrier up, they can't invade. Only a few forts are not covered by it." Corrin blinked, rather awed by her mother's power. How must it work?

"The fort you invaded was one of those," Rinkah added.

"You invaded one of our forts?" Hinoka asked, aghast.

Corrin quickly explained the situation, as well as Hans's direct defiance of her orders.

"So that is what happened," Ryoma said with a sigh. "I admit, it troubled us to hear. But Mother spoke in your defense, explaining that there were extenuating circumstances, though she could not share the specifics."

Corrin nodded slowly.

"Returning to your question," Ryoma said. "The Faceless have no souls—no will of their own. That's why they are able to penetrate the barrier and terrorize our borders."

That made sense. "That's typical of magical constructs," Corrin mused. "It's surprising that they would only send Faceless, though I suppose most other constructs require a higher level of talent to sculpt…"

Hinoka stared at her incredulously, and Corrin blushed. "Sorry, I spent a lot of time in the library growing up. Not much else to do in that fortress."

"Fortress?" Sakura asked. "They k-kept you locked up?"

Hinoka's expression turned irate. "Those bastards!"

Corrin sighed. She had a lot of work to do, it seemed, if she wanted to ease the tensions between countries.


	6. Chapter 6

Well, it's been a while, and it's probably shorter than you'd like, but here it is. I'm having some trouble adding some content to the next few chapters, but once I get past that small block, I should be able to release quite a lot more without as much of a wait.

**Visions of a Shattered Past**

**Chapter Six**

The trip back to the castle took longer than the journey over, as the situation was much less urgent. Once they arrived, Corrin allocated most of her time to bonding with her mother and her step-siblings. Ryoma was not around often, taking over most of the responsibilities around the castle so that the queen could spend more time with her daughter. Hinoka made time for her, however, and Sakura visited with her frequently, though she seemed very nervous every time she spoke to Corrin. Corrin hoped that she had not done something to offend her. When she asked her mother about it, the queen simply responded that Sakura was very shy.

Despite her mother's reassurances, Corrin still worried that Sakura bore some grudge against her or was frightened by her in some way. Corrin made a concerted effort to be pleasant and warm in her interactions with the girl, but each stuttered response disheartened her. She was given hope, however, some time into her stay at Castle Shirasagi.

Sakura found her in the gardens, kneeling by a grim-looking statue of what Corrin presumed to be some former Hoshidan king or famed ancient warrior. Its visage was stern, its face lined, and in her current state of mind, it reminded her of no one more than her old mentor. The sword at its side was curved, and its clothes were that of a samurai, not a knight, but that made no difference to her at present.

In all the commotion following her journey to Hoshido, Corrin had been given no time to mourn for Gunter, but now that the dust had settled and the novelty of reunion had faded some, the grief had snuck up on her. Though there had always been a sort of wariness coloring their interactions, the old knight had been one of the constants in Corrin's life for as long as she could remember, and his influence on her was perhaps even greater than that of the Nohrian royal siblings. His grudging attention had inspired her to accept her new life at the Northern Fortress. His simmering hatred for Garon had taught her the art of biding her time, hiding her pain behind a feigned subservience. His understanding had given her a pillar of support that had been essential to her survival.

Now he was gone, and there was an aching void where he should have been. Corrin was no stranger to loss, but the suddenness of Gunter's demise was a sensation entirely new to her. Corrin had been given years to mourn her loss of freedom, of family, of agency. This time, she had not been afforded enough time to even blink.

Castle Shirasagi and the Northern Fortress were as different as two places could be, but wandering the halls of her new home had begun to remind her too much of her past, the time she had spent surrounded by Gunter's presence. She had retreated to the gardens, hoping that the greenery—a counterpoint to the barren landscape of Nohr—would wipe away all reminders of her life there. But even here, Gunter's face haunted her in the statue's visage.

She wished keenly for Felicia, Jakob, and Flora—they, at least, would empathize with her, would mourn alongside her. She had not even bothered to tell her Hoshidan family of Gunter's demise—they would not understand her lamenting the loss of a Nohrian, especially a soldier who had been beholden to her kidnapper.

"Big sister?" Sakura's voice broke through the numbness of Corrin's thoughts. Awareness filtered in, and she could once again feel the scratchy grass beneath her hands, the dirt staining her kimono. She could hear the birdsong—too cheerful for her mood—smell the flowers' perfume, and feel the sun's rays on what little skin she had exposed. "I-Is something wrong?"

Corrin attempted a smile, meeting Sakura's concerned eyes. "I'm just a little sad, Sakura. Thank you for your concern," she added.

"O-Oh," Sakura said, then fell into a clumsy silence. For a second, she seemed as though she might leave, but something stopped her. "D-Do you want…" She trailed off.

"What is it?" Corrin asked after a few seconds. "You can ask me, Sakura. I won't get upset."

Sakura fidgeted, voice small. "Well… b-before you came back, Hinoka would sometimes be sad, too." The pink-haired girl bit her lip guiltily, and Corrin was left with little doubt as to what had caused Hinoka's upset. "Mother would sit and talk to her, and eventually, things would be better. She—Mother, that is—said that it's a r-rare soul who _w-wants _to be alone in their grief. So…" Sakura bravely met Corrin's eyes, hands wringing. "D-Do you want me to sit with you? I'm not very good at this… But I can listen."

Corrin blinked, warmed by the offer. Sakura was clearly nervous in her presence, but she was moved enough by Corrin's distress to work through it. Corrin admired her bravery. "I think I'd like that… Thank you, Sakura. Truly." She searched the area for a better place to sit. She doubted Sakura would be comfortable kneeling in the dirt.

Nodding nervously, Sakura sank to her knees beside Corrin, surprising her. As Sakura clasped her hands together in front of her delicately, she looked expectantly to Corrin. Corrin ran her hand through her own long hair—worn loose for once. She was not expecting combat here in the heart of Hoshido, after all. "I don't know where to start," she admitted.

"W-Well… what made you sad?" Sakura's eyes widened worriedly. "It w-wasn't one of us, was it? Are you not happy here?"

"No, nothing like that," Corrin assured her quickly. "It's beautiful here, and you're all so kind and welcoming."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Th-That's good."

"In the battle on the border, one of my companions was murdered," Corrin explained, fists tightening. "Thrown into the Bottomless Chasm by one of Garon's thugs."

"Th-That's terrible…" Sakura said quietly. "Were you close?"

"Not exactly," Corrin admitted. "But he practically helped raise me. I can't… I can't wrap my head around the fact that he's gone. Just like that."

Sakura's gaze dropped to the ground. "I'm sorry, big sister. I c-can't imagine losing Mother or Ryoma. They raised me a-after my parents died."

Corrin ducked her head, heart heavy. She was keenly aware that Sakura might have to confront the possibility of losing Queen Mikoto sooner than either of them would like.

"Do you hate m-me?" Sakura asked quietly.

"What?" Corrin sucked in a breath, alarmed. "Of course not! Why would you think that?"

"I thought maybe…" Sakura peeked up at her through her hair. "Because y-your mother was here to raise me, but you were all alone."

Corrin, seeing the girl's vulnerable expression, pulled Sakura into a tight hug. "I'd never resent you for that, Sakura. You're family to me. And to Mother."

Sakura said nothing, but she leaned into Corrin's embrace, and she listened as Corrin hesitantly began to speak of Gunter and the many times he had saved her over the years.

* * *

Before she knew it, weeks had passed and the homesickness began to set in. She did not miss the Northern Fortress, nor much of Nohr in general, but she ached to see Leo, Xander, Camilla, and Elise again, and it was a very foreign feeling not to have Jakob and Felicia by her side.

She had tried to contact Leo through his amulet, to no avail. That spun Corrin into quite the panic until she remembered his words: _So long as no other magic interferes with it, it should function across any distance._ True to his words, the amulet had worked from very far away—until she crossed the border to Hoshido. When she thought of it that way, it occurred to her that the answer was obvious: Mother's barrier must protect the country from magical scrying as well as physical infiltration. She made a mental note to ask her mother for the spell, knowing it would prove useful against Iago's spying.

Disheartened by her inability to contact her friends in Nohr, Corrin took to wandering the gardens alone when her mother was unavailable. One such time, as she observed the cherry blossoms and blooming flowers and breathed their fragrant air, she caught a faint sound in the distance and followed it to its source.

"_Yet the waters ever change, flowing like time. The path is yours to climb…"_

There was Azura, all grown up, standing at the edge of a pier, looking out over the lake as she sang. Her longing stare as she gazed at the water told Corrin she was thinking of their home, of Valla. Corrin sighed; apparently she and her cousin were possessed of similar moods right about now.

"Um, hello," Corrin said awkwardly as Azura spun around upon hearing her, song ceasing. She had fared well in the reunion with her step-siblings, familiar with their behavior through her dreams and Mother's stories. Takumi had yet to make his presence known to her, but she assumed a meeting with him would be similar. But she had dreamed so rarely of Azura, she had no idea how to act in her presence. In fact, the most recent vision of her took place years ago—she had never seen her so grown up. "I'm sorry to bother you," she settled on. "I just got lost in your singing. It reminded me of home."

Azura blinked, her arms crossing over her chest as though to make herself smaller. "You must be Princess Corrin…" she said.

"Yes," Corrin said. "Are you Azura?"

"I am," Azura said, surprised. "Have the royal family spoken of me?"

"They did, yes," Corrin admitted. "But I've had visions of you, as well."

Azura's mouth fell open in a gasp, but then understanding seemed to dawn. "Oh… You have Mikoto's gift. Truly, that explains a lot."

Corrin tilted her head curiously. "Really?"

"She always spoke of you as if… As if she knew we would meet, and you would see me as family. I never understood why she would think you would know me so well." Azura unconsciously mimicked her tilted head, and Corrin was suddenly struck by how much they resembled each other. There were subtle differences in their faces, and Corrin was built with more obvious lean muscle, but their long, blue hair was of the exact same shade, and they were of a height and a figure. It was obvious that they were related, and she wondered how anyone had missed it.

"I don't know you as well as I'd like to," Corrin admitted. "But I _do _see you as family, Azura."

Azura seemed to falter. "I… That is…"

Corrin took pity on her. "So how did you come to be here in Hoshido?" she asked. "I know you were raised in Nohr, at first, and you lived with Mother after I was kidnapped, but my dreams were never clear on what happened in between."

Grateful for the distraction, Azura explained, "After you were taken by the Nohrians, the Hoshidan forces retaliated. They tried desperately to get you back, but they failed again and again. However, I wasn't as heavily guarded. Hoshidan ninja easily kidnapped me. I suppose we've both been hostages most of our lives."

Corrin nodded. Although the situations were different, she knew the pain of being displaced. "I'm sorry. Did they mistake you for me? There's a definite family resemblance."

Azura blinked, her hands fluttering slightly. "You… You know?"

"That my mother is your aunt?" Corrin asked. "Yes. I'm pretty sure I've always known."

"I…" Azura shook her head. "This will take some getting used to. I had feared—expected—I would have to hide it from you, should we ever meet. It's not… something easily explained."

"It's painful, keeping this terrible secret. It seems everything important is somehow connected to it." Corrin agreed. "But you need not hide your origins from me. I know where we both came from."

Azura gasped. "You have dreamt of … home?"

Corrin nodded. "Before and after… everything."

Azura looked wistful. "I have never been able to tell if Mikoto's— and now your—ability is a gift or a curse."

"Honestly?" Corrin laughed. "Neither have I. Most days, I'm grateful, but it does often torture me with memories of what I cannot have."

"I know something of that myself," Azura said softly, as if to herself. She shook herself, then smiled at Corrin. "But I've lived a happy life. The Hoshidans were disappointed when it became clear that I was not their lost princess, but they've long since accepted me as one of their own, and Queen Mikoto treats me as if I were her daughter."

"She's loving that way, far more than most," Corrin said, feeling a swell of admiration for her mother. "But not many are so callous as to neglect their own blood," Corrin added, thinking of a crazed Nohrian king with contempt.

"You speak of King Garon?" Azura asked perceptively. "I recall hearing he had claimed you as his daughter after the death of King Sumeragi, though he gave no explanation for your birth."

"Yes," she answered. "But I meant his birth children. Since the madness overtook him, he has not been kind to them."

Azura tilted her head curiously. "The madness? What do you—"

They were interrupted by a shout. "Azura! I know you're around here somewhere!"

Corrin searched the area for the source of the noise but saw nothing to explain it. Azura must have recognized the voice, since she tipped her head back to call, "I'm here, Prince Takumi!"

_Takumi? He's at the palace? He's not sought me out, so I had assumed… _Corrin felt uneasy suddenly. Had he merely been avoiding her? She knew he was not fond of Nohr, but surely that would not extend to _her_. Would it?

"What are you doing? Hiding again?" Takumi demanded with a huff, branches swishing behind him as he emerged from the trees behind them.

Azura's cheeks turned pink, and Corrin raised her eyebrows. Was her cousin simply embarrassed to be called out on her reclusive nature, or was there something more to it? Takumi ground to a halt, staring at the two bluenettes. "You—"

"Hello, Takumi," Corrin offered uncertainly. "I thought you were away. I haven't seen you around the castle."

"I've been _busy_," the man spat, and the anger was clear in his brown eyes.

"Takumi!" Azura gasped, appalled. "What is wrong with you?"

He turned his glare on her. "What, just because she's my _sister_, I have to drop everything to spend time with her?"

Corrin smothered her offense in favor of sarcasm. "That is the typical reaction, I've found."

"Maybe I'm not as _soft _as my siblings," he scowled.

"The idea of someone calling _any _of them _soft _is absolutely ludicrous—"

"Trusting, then," Takumi amended with a sneer. "You were raised in Nohr. Just because you're related to us, we're supposed to trust that you're not a spy?"

Corrin was taken aback. "That's… actually a reasonable point."

"It _would _be a reasonable point," Azura corrected. "Had Queen Mikoto not assured all of us that you meant Hoshido, and us, no harm. Or are you accusing your mother of being blinded by sentiment, Takumi?"

Corrin nearly whistled at the way her words stopped Takumi in his tracks. Clearly, Azura knew how to handle the touchy man.

After he recovered, Takumi simply scowled and turned to leave, tossing a "Whatever," over his shoulder.

"Wait," Azura said, reaching a hand out in Takumi's direction. "What did you need from me, Prince Takumi?"

There was a growl, and he snapped, "As if I'd need anything from you!" With that, he disappeared into the trees.

"Wow," Corrin said, blinking. "Is he always like that?" If so, she understood why her mother fretted for him so.

Azura sighed. "More often than not, lately. We used to be close, but now he seems to blame me for being Nohrian. He snaps at the slightest provocation, and I'm left with no idea what I've said to set him off."

A suspicion took root in Corrin's mind, but she shook it off. "I'm sorry," Corrin offered. "That sounds incredibly frustrating."

"It is," Azura admitted reluctantly, as if she would prefer not to let anyone know, but she desperately needed to talk to _someone _about it. "But I should be apologizing to you. I'm sure that isn't how you pictured reuniting with your brother."

Corrin shook her head, though she was truthfully very bothered by his reaction to her. "It's not your fault."

"Nor yours," Azura asserted, a shy smile on her face.

"Would you like to take a walk?" Corrin asked, emboldened by the smile. "Get to know one another better?" She offered Azura her hand.

Azura nodded slowly, reaching out to place her hand in Corrin's. "I think I'd like that."

* * *

A/N One of the reviewers wondered how the reunion between Takumi and Corrin would turn out. Well, here it is! Not very long, since Takumi is not fond of Corrin's presence, visions or no visions, but there will be more interaction in future chapters.


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